Where No Star Shines
by DemonFox38
Summary: A horrible creature stalks the citizens of Meltokio. After an incident lands Zelos in hot water, he's charged with finding out what's happening. Even while being under constant surveillance and with his friends in the monster's sights, can he stop it?
1. The Knight Falls

**Where No Star Shines**

Disclaimer:

_No copyrights are of my own possession. No funds were raised for capital gain. No puppies were hurt in the production of this story._

_Welcome to your morning/midday/evening entertainment. Please take notice that this is a T rated story. Stay tuned after this chapter for additional information._

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Knight Falls**

The massacre began with the death of two sewer maintenance workers.

It was the third time that week that an unpleasant smell had been reported coming up from the sewers. Sure, no big surprise there—it's not like there was a flower garden down there. The stench was unusual, though. It carried heavily through the summer air, something like the smell of decay and cooking turkey. After a few business owners and coliseum spectators reported the stench, the task was given to Hunter and Hansen. Neither of them was overly experienced with sewer maintenance, but they were good at general mechanical work. So, they were sent down to check up on the trash compacting systems. It was unfortunate that it was a night call, but it didn't matter too much to them. It was more gald in their pockets.

"I don't get it," Hunter grumbled. "It's not the north compactor."

Hansen tossed a set of monkey wrenches into a tin box. "It's got to be the north one. It's been on the fritz all week."

The former wiped some grease off on his overalls. "Well, the southern one's not a carton of peaches, either. Let's keep going."

"Man, I had other plans tonight," Hansen sighed. He grabbed the red toolbox and followed Hunter to the next room.

Hunter laughed, "Going to spy on the princess's birthday party, were ya?"

Hansen spat, "I was not! Okay, maybe. Whatever." He crossed his arms, "You can't tell me that it wouldn't fascinate you."

"I've got better things to do than to be following some skirt around," Hunter smirked. He stole the toolbox from Hansen and pulled out another bunch of tools. He flipped a switch, and the machine stopped purring. Prying off the cover to the southern compactor, he grunted, "I'm still training for the next cup, ya know."

_**BrrRrrRrrRrr**_.

Both mechanics shot a look behind them. There was nothing there. Hansen rolled his eyes and took a look over the side of the elevated platform. Some rats were out in the storm drains, but it was nothing surprising. He went back to the trash compactor, peeling back the right panel. All the gears were oiled and clear of debris. There was no immediate reason why it wouldn't be working fine.

Hansen shook his head, "Still want to fight that ninja gal, huh?"

"Hey! Ya'd want to fight her too, if ya saw how she moved," Hunter defended his actions. "Just a beautiful gal."

"Ha! Now, who's the skirt chaser?" Hansen started mocking his coworker, speaking in a soft falsetto, "Oh, Hunter, you sexy, sexy stud, you've defeated me and my feminine wiles! Take me now!"

Hunter roared, "Hey, now, that's—"

_**RggRggRrrRrr**_.

Both men stopped bickering. Eyes were watching them. There were several pairs, all a shade of orange and red. The stench was getting worse. Hansen buried his nose into his shirt, trying to smell anything other than that sick scent. Hunter grabbed a hammer from the toolbox, watching how the eyes danced around them. It was like they were connected by a webbing made of gelatin. He could almost seen glimmering stones in between the eyes. His heart raced—they looked like fragments of skeletons.

"Get back," Hunter challenged the set of eyes. "If ya—"

The eyes bore down on the mechanics and promptly devoured them.

* * *

All in all, it was a fairly romantic evening. It was humid and warm, which did little to flatter Zelos's hair. The night air reeked like processed meat. It was a clear night, though. The stars were gorgeous, all bashful and twinkling. As far as summer nights went, this was a tame one. He had a strange urge to run out to the fields outside Meltokio and just lay on the grass. Maybe catch fireflies. He wondered if the feeling was nostalgia or the alcohol running through his bloodstream. He did feel a little buzzed.

"I never have seen you outside of a party before it is finished."

Zelos nearly jumped out of his skin. Princess Hilda had snuck up on him. He blushed and turned back to the night sky, "Well, it's a very nice party. I'm just. . .you know."

The princess laughed, "Bored?"

Zelos didn't give her an answer. He looked back at her, leaning against the balcony outside of the ballroom. He waved his left hand, "It's very hot in there, you know. I don't know how you stand being in that dress." Half a second later, he corrected himself, "Not that I'm encouraging you to remove it or anything. How old are you, again?"

"Seventeen," Hilda smiled. She pulled a fan out of the ribbon around her bodice. It was warmer than she remembered.

"Good age. Stay away from the table in the corner, though. I think you're a little young for that stuff," Zelos rambled. He smacked his head and turned back to the stars. He wasn't sure what to be disgusted with himself about. He'd talked about the princess's clothing, age, and drinking habits all in one minute. He was going to end up in jail by the end of the night. He just knew it.

Hilda moved over towards the balcony. She tried to find what Zelos was looking for, but she lost interest. She never really had the head for constellations and stars. They were okay to look at, but she didn't have the same mysterious drive that others had for the sky. She smiled to herself, studying Zelos for half a moment. For a pervert, he was dense. He'd gotten worse after his trip to save the world. Sure, he'd flirt, but he was missing his enthusiasm with others.

"I suppose none of my buds showed up," Zelos sighed.

Hilda shook her head, "No. No replies." Of course, there were no invitations sent out to them. She didn't think they would mind too badly. It wasn't like any of them were actively involved in upper crust activities, anyway.

Zelos scrunched up his face, "Ah, oh well. They're probably out saving the world."

"Mmm hmm," Hilda nodded. She wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying. It was her one chance. Now or never. Nobody was watching. She chuckled, "You know, I loved my birthday present from you."

Zelos looked at her. "I didn't think you'd even op—"

He found himself unable to finish his sentence. The princess was on his toes and in his mouth. She grabbed the lining of his jacket for balance. He staggered, the balcony supporting most of his weight. She bit into his lip ever so slightly. Wrong signals flared through the redhead's mind. His arms and legs felt like putty. Finding just enough strength, he pushed the princess aside and moved away from her.

"It's been a lovely evening, my princess," Zelos lowered his voice. He bowed and made his way back inside, "But, it's getting late for me. I should be getting home."

Hilda flushed with anger and embarrassment. "Zelos, wait."

"Good night," the redhead gave her a slight smile, but turned away from her. He wanted to be frustrated, but he couldn't feel too bad. The girl was young. It was just some goofy crush. Given a couple of years, she should get over it. He just had to figure out a way to duck the king for a while. He could see His Royal Highness, happily talking away with some archduke. Heaven help him if his majesty should happen to get wind of what happened.

"Zelos!"

The redhead shook his head. The girl was either persistent or stupid. He went back to the balcony, preparing to give her another gentle warning. Instead, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He saw petticoats go over the side of the railing. The redhead bolted over and glanced down. The princess was gone. In her place were thousands of glowing red eyes.

Zelos dropped his jaw, "What the hell?"

A gush of gelatinous mass threw itself up at him. He hopped backwards, avoiding the creature's splash. It hissed against the floor of the balcony, steam radiating off its body. He reached for where his sword usually dangled, only to find that he was unarmed. He should have known better than to leave his sword at home! The worst things always happened at parties.

The gooey mess surged at him again. He ran into the ballroom, slamming the glass doors shut behind him. It was little protection against the creature. The mass smashed its way inside, splintering the door frame and shattering the ornate doors. Party guests screamed in panic as it oozed over the grand staircase, pooling in the center of the ballroom. It landed on top of one unfortunate noble, smothering him inside its massive folds.

The king glared upwards. He hollered, "Zelos, what—"

"Get out! Get out now, goddammit!" Zelos yelled. Terrified people rushed past him as he searched for a weapon. He gave up, yanking a decorative sword off the wall. He might as well have been fighting off a whale with a toothpick. Still, it was something. Being the brave hero he was, he was prepared to engage the creature while others fled.

A hand pulled Zelos back from the monster. He didn't acknowledge the man's presence, but his stomach sank when he heard the man plead, "What is going on? Where my daughter?"

"Your highness, I'm sorry," Zelos growled. "Get moving!"

"Wilder, tell me now! Where is she?" the king hissed in his ear.

The redhead shouted at the king, "I don't know! I'm sorry! Now, get the hell out!" He expected the argument to spiral out of control. The king had more restraint than Zelos thought. He could hear the king breathe through his teeth, but the sound became quieter. The king waved to his guards, and the entire pack vanished. He could hear commands coming from the distance for the knights to split up and find the princess, but he lost track of them. There were more threatening things at hand.

Zelos taunted the blob, "Hey! Hey, flanny flan flan flan!" He flipped upside down in his classic fighting style and struck the monster in one of its eyes. It popped like a volcanic pimple. He pulled back from the beast, smiling as it took after him. Now, he'd just have to run like hell. No problem!

The redhead leapt out of the front doors, seconds ahead of being swallowed alive. He bounced through the city, quickly landing in a back street behind the aristocratic district. It was not the best place to engage in a battle with a giant slime bubble, but he wasn't picky. Raising out a hand, he smirked and shot off a spell, "Burn, baby! _Eruption!_" The cobblestone street went alit with lava, sending tremendous heat throughout the gelatinous creature. It roared at him, internal skeletons shrieking at him. He was always good at pissing things off.

The blob rumbled, "**GrrRiiSiiAaaa**!!"

"What?!" Zelos gasped.

The creature never clarified. A wide tendril shot forward from its body and whipped Zelos. The redhead crashed into a wall, his head taking most of the blow. He pressed a hand to it and felt warm blood trickle down. His vision blurred, not at all assisted by the alcohol in his system. He gritted his teeth as his head felt heavier. The redhead collapsed on the ground, his mind exploding with pain. His ears were ringing, a grainy sound little better than white noise.

His opponent rolled towards him, anticipating a finishing blow. Claw-like fingers punctured the surface of the beast. They reached out for him, preparing to rake into him. There was the slightest hint of a mouth in the skeletons, broken pieces forming a smiling, jagged expression. Zelos gulped, still struggling to get off the ground. His efforts were useless—his concussion was overtaking him.

His eyes lost focus, and he wheezed, "Hil—"

The beast lost interest in the redhead. Its mass shifted in another direction, listening to the screaming crowds in the distance. It abandoned Zelos, sensing a better opportunity off in the distance. Zelos didn't know why it would leave him. Not that he was questioning what the monster was going to do to him, but it didn't look like something that just left a meal untouched.

The horrible thought of being consumed by that thing rang through his brain as he passed out.

* * *

The king's men found him unconscious on a desolate cobblestone street. He was unresponsive at first, but the redhead eventually came around. They took him from the area with no struggle. He was too weak to put up much of a fight. It was enough to keep him on his feet, half-bracing him as they took him back to the king. He hung his head in shame, remaining silent the entire time. The Chosen knew he had failed the king, and that was going to cost him.

There were very few guards remaining now. Besides the four that had collected Zelos, he only saw eight more in the castle's entryway. Many of them must have been wiped out. The redhead turned his sight away from them. An overwhelming sense of dread took him over. He stumbled, but the guards had a good grasp on him. They pulled him back up and dragged him to the king's room. He shivered—he didn't want to see that man face to face, not right now.

One knight knocked at the door, earning a response, "Yes?"

"We found Wilder, sir. You wished to see him?" The knight asked.

Zelos winced as a familiar voice bid them, "Let him enter."

The knights flanking him let the redhead go. He regained his composure, but his stomach was reeling. Fighting every instinct to jump off the balcony and run, he pushed the bedroom door open. The king was sitting on his bed, eyes red and puffy. He looked decades older than he should, face scarred by the poisoning attempt on his life. Even in this sorry state, Zelos panicked. Not knowing what to do, he knelt. If he could keep his eyes on the ground, he wouldn't have to look at the king. He could hide what he felt.

The bedspread ruffled as the king stood up. There was a harsh moment of silence, and then the king spoke. "You know why I have summoned you, correct?"

"I can take a guess. Princess Hilda is still missing?" Zelos replied. He was surprised that his voice didn't hitch. Gathering up a little more courage, he said, "I'm so sorry."

"I don't want your apologies, Zelos. They do not help," the king hissed at him. He remained quiet for some time, giving the Chosen enough time to let that sink in. The king clenched his teeth, "I am not going to execute you."

Zelos kept his voice low, "Thank you."

The king snapped his fingers. Two knights entered, roughly grabbing Zelos by the shoulders. They pulled him off the floor, forcing the Chosen to look straight at the king. A flutter of terror crossed his heart. There were worse things than being killed. Maybe the king wanted to torture him. What would he do? Cut his tongue out? Gouge his eyes? He trembled as the monarch pulled something out of his robes, glancing away. A cold sensation brushed the skin on Zelos's upper arm, and he heard a mechanism click. He looked back and grimaced—it was an iron band. There was a small symbol stamped into the metal. It looked like three wings, all spread apart around a circle.

"What is this? Am I being branded?" Zelos asked.

"No. I am placing you under guarded supervision," The king explained. He narrowed his eyes and growled, "I do not wish to see you out on your own again, not until my daughter is found."

Zelos gawked, "You're arresting me?"

The king nodded. "At this time, I do not have the resources nor desire to keep you here. Therefore, I am assigning you a guardian. You will be working with investigative groups until you either rescued Hilda, or. . ." He stopped, his voice choking up.

"I understand, your majesty," Zelos bowed his head. He hated the sound of the entire thing. House arrest! Indentured servitude! Being babysat by some guard! It was embarrassing! It was going to be bad enough once the news of his failure to save the princess hit the streets, but all of this? He was going to look like the king's goddamn poodle! It's not like it was a great time to bring up his complaints, though. He was lucky to have his head.

The king's face kept as still as marble. "Good. Now get out of my castle."

Zelos had some assistance. The guards yanked the chosen backwards and shoved him out of the king's balcony. Within a few more seconds, he was out the front door of the palace. His escorts remained with him until he was at his front door. Not one to waste time, Zelos unlocked his front door and went inside. He waved the knights off with a half-assed smile, and then locked his house up again. He slumped against the door, his head pounding. The stairs to his bedroom seemed so far away. There was no way he was going to make it upstairs tonight.

He collapsed on his chaise lounge and gave up.

* * *

Author's Note:

As you may have noticed, there is a tendency for some violence to occur. Mild alcoholic references may be an issue. Language may also be a problem, so please don't let your children read this. Unless you children are teens, of course.

I'm not one to confirm pairings one way or another. You may see some Shelos—sorry about that in advance, Shelloyd supporters. There is a good chance I will throw in a random pairing just to shake things up. In fact, you may have already witnessed a random pairing! Do not panic. Remember that your beverage of choice may be selected from your fridge, in case of an emergency situation.

Now, please enjoy. Comment cards may be filled out below.


	2. By the Shadow of Dawn

**Chapter Two: By the Shadow of Dawn**

Morning came too soon. The persistent drumming in his head never really stopped. It continued through his sleep, pulsing in his haunted dreams. Zelos wasn't one to sleep through nightmares, but he needed to be unconscious for a while. He could at least pretend that he wasn't responsible for last night. Monster attacks weren't his idea of a good time. A pale thought crossed his mind. How many people died last night?

There was a clatter on the coffee table in front of him. He opened one eye and smiled. Pancakes. Sebastian must have heard what happened last night. He didn't think he'd even woken the butler up. His staff had gotten used to him coming in at all hours of the night, so unless something broke, they didn't fret too much. It was a little lax in security, but that wasn't a problem he was going to deal with today.

"Sebastian, you are golden," Zelos smiled.

"I'll tell him that."

Zelos bolted upright. That was a woman's voice! Sure enough, there was a lady sitting across from him on a cushy chair. She had her legs crossed, arms folded around her well-endowed chest. Zelos knew that voice and those boobs. In fact, he was very well acquainted with both, although he wished to know the latter more. He raised an eyebrow, nearly laughing, "Is it my birthday?"

The woman growled at him, "No. Shut up and eat your breakfast."

"Touchy, touchy," Zelos beamed. He ran his fingers across the cold silverware, trying to hide his grin. He flirted with his guest, "Did you get breakfast? This is pretty big, and I could split it with you. We could go into the kitchen, maybe find some whipped cream or bananas or—"

"Don't even try," The woman cut him down.

Zelos shrugged, "Fine, your loss." He wasn't ready to give up quite yet. Drumming his fingers across the tray in front of him, he found some more ammunition. "There's a second fork here. I know it's a salad fork, but you don't exactly have the breeding to care about that sort of thing."

His guest slapped her forehead. "If I help you, will you shut up?"

"You've got a harsh tongue, Miss Fujibayashi," Zelos patted a couch cushion next to him. His guest sighed, but she rose to her feet. She flopped down next to the redhead, reluctantly taking the second fork. Zelos tried to hide his grin, but it didn't work. She nudged him in the shoulder, trying to get him to knock it off. He couldn't help but notice just a crack of a smile on her face.

"Nice armband," Sheena snickered. "It's a little girly for you, though."

"I don't want to talk about it," Zelos sighed.

They settled down and had breakfast.

* * *

It had retreated for now. The sun was baking the earth, and it was cooking the creature's flesh. It slunk over the protective walls of the city, dripping into the channel below it. This was supposed to be treated sewage water, but it was hardly appealing now. The water shimmered with an oily film. The trash compactors were failing again. With any luck, somebody would complain about it, and then the creature would have itself another meal.

The monster had grown in size. Some of its victims were still conscious, struggling from within, but their attempts were weakening. Their blood congealed, instantly adding to the creature's bulk. It took longer to digest their flesh. It had been a magnificent hunt. Its satisfaction wouldn't last for very long. The urge to feed was gnawing at it again. Still, those surface people couldn't resist its power now. How long could Meltokio last? A week? A month? It would all be gone, soon enough.

It gushed through the sewer passageways, stopping by mouse holes along its way home. Parts of it broke off, taking tiny bones with it. The vermin along the path ran in horror. The smaller piles of slime dashed after the unfortunate creatures like playful children. The monster could grow larger in pieces, and then combine again when it was time to attack again. It was a wonderful, filthy existence. It was its own society and identity, coexisting at once.

Slow movements inside the creature began to still. The struggling creatures were gone now, save for one final human. Its pulse beat inside the monster like a heart of its own. It could feel the lone human shudder and cry. The terror in that human's mind must have been greater than anything it ever knew. The monster knew there was none other like it in this city.

A calculating thought dawned on the creature. What did the human know? It had to know what other humans would do, now that the monster had emerged from its months of slumbering in the sewers. Maybe it knew where to find more humans to feast on. The creature could live off of other creatures, of course, but it felt right to destroy the humans. They had killed it before. It only seemed right to return the favor. It was only through their stones that it lived again.

Another happy thought crossed its mind. Maybe this one knew where to find more shiny pebbles.

The hulking ooze split down the middle, tearing itself into two large chunks. A pellet of flesh and skeletons wrapped around the survivor. The humans wanted this one safe, sacrificing their lives to keep it alive. How odd. The monster recognized her, but didn't understand why she was worth an entire group of humans. It picked her out, peeling the corpses away and absorbing their parts again.

The girl screamed at it. The creature wasn't surprised. Its skeletons turned towards her, empty sockets glowing orange. The monster asked, "**Heeeeeh-heeeeeeh—xssphphpheeeeeaaarr?**"

"What?" The girl stopped shrieking. She had very intriguing hair. It looked like corded gold. The monster wondered if that was why the humans saved her. They valued pretty things like this. They liked the shimmering stones and those strange costumes they wore. They even liked those strange plants, the ones that the men and women kept giving each other last night. This human was pretty enough. Maybe that's why she was worth saving.

The blob repeated itself, "**Heeeexxspheeeaaarr?**"

The golden lady shook her head, shivering from the atmosphere. "I cannot understand you. Please be clearer."

That redheaded human hadn't understood him either. The human language was complicated for it to speak. It was difficult to sync up the skulls of the creatures and give them a semblance of breath. It had no other way to communicate with the humans, other than crude body language. It used to know how to speak. That was a long time ago, back when it only had one body.

The monster dug within itself. It pulled a glowing orb out of the socket of its oldest skeleton. The stone was covered in tissues—it had grown into the creature, like a tumor or a pimple. It reached out to the girl and dumped its contents at her feet. She knelt down, picking up the object slowly. She didn't recognize it at first. A slow look of horror crossed her face, and then she understood. "An exsphere?"

"**Heeexxxxxxspheeeeaaaaar**," the monster laughed. It was a strange squelching noise that rippled across its skin, air bubbling out its sides. It smacked against its flesh, regaining its full size. The monster tried talking with the golden girl again, "**Wwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantt.**"

The girl's blonde hair bounced against her pale neck. The poor, pretty thing looked like she had been hurt. She was repulse by its suggestion, "I cannot help you. These stones are outlawed. They are being destroyed by Lloyd Irving and his companions." She regained some strength, spitting at the monster, "You do not want to meet them. They will destroy you."

Lloyd Irving. That name was familiar. It could remember just the slightest details about the boy. He had striking hair, too—it wasn't a bright shade, but it waved in the breeze like a downy crown. Maybe that's how humans picked leaders. It couldn't remember that much about Lloyd Irving, but it knew he existed. He had friends, the girl said? It could recall them easier. The boy travelled with that girl. The monster recoiled at the memory of her. That girl!

The monster roared at the lady, "**BuuuuuuuurSeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeYYYYYaaaaaaaaaah!**"

"Stay away from me!" The golden girl shrieked at it, curling into a ball in the corner of its lair. She was too frail to fight it. Still, she didn't give up much information. Maybe keeping quiet was the only thing she could do to keep it on guard. The monster did have her cornered, though. It was worth trying one more time.

"**Waheeeeere goooo? Hexspheeearr?**" The creature kept its sentences short. It was gradually becoming easier to talk with the human.

The girl shivered, glancing away from the monster. A troubled expression broke her beautiful features. She cried, but she wiped away the tears from her face. It was hard for her to look at the creature. She gave it an answer, "Most exspheres are now destroyed at the Lezareno headquarters. If that is what you want . . ." She buried her head in her hands, feeling like she was a betrayer. After a pitiful moment, the girl regained her strength and yelled again at the monster, "But leave my people alone!"

The monster was pleased. It remembered this place. "**Lezzaareeeno**." It had visited Lezareno in the past so many times. The building lay next to the ocean, mere meters away from the coastline. It smelt like popcorn, salt, and freedom. The smell of happy humans. Tasty humans. Tasty.

"**Thhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaanks. Buupuba.**" The creature shook with laughter. It split down the middle again, tearing into two healthy-sized halves. One dove into the water, slinking its way out into the hot sunlight. It would be protected by the ocean, once it got out far enough. The other half peeled its skeletons out. The girl tried to run, but there was nowhere to go. She was trapped in the corner of the sewer complex. The monster wrapped the skeletons around her like a child wrapping up an uneaten piece of candy. It swallowed its skeletons again, satisfied with what it had learned.

This girl was very useful. It would have to try and remember her name sometime.

* * *

Sheena stood outside of Zelos's room, waiting for him to put his everyday clothes on. At first, he was afraid that he was going to be stuck in his suit for the rest of his life, what with the armband on and all. He'd tried to take the thing off, but the armband shocked him. She helped him out of his jacket by tearing the arm of the suit loose. He had not been amused, but she said she'd get it fixed. He wasn't owning up to why he had the armband in the first place. She had a pretty good idea why he was touchy about it, though.

"You sure you don't want to help me pick something out?" Zelos asked her, his voice muffled by the door.

Sheena blew him off. "You're old enough to dress yourself."

He laughed, "Fine. You're missing out, though."

"Something tells me that if I really ever wanted to see you naked, that's not going to be a problem," Sheena couldn't believe his attitude. He never really changed.

The door to his bedroom opened, and blue eyes peeked out. "Oh, I see. It's more fun in the chase?" He waggled one eyebrow, taunting her with it.

Sheena pulled the door shut. The redhead whined something about his nose, but she knew it was just a ploy. There was a part of her that couldn't believe he was so jovial, especially if what she heard about last night was true. The streets of Meltokio were alive with terror and rumors. People around the castle were especially jittery, and stories were easy to pick up. Some swore it was a living ghost. Others made up dramatic stories about a plague or a foul magician. Every person had their own variation, and most embellished their roles. There were several universal details, though—people were dead, the princess was missing, and Zelos had failed to fight the creature off.

"Do you want to talk about last night yet?" Sheena asked.

Zelos was pretty simple with his response. "Nope." He jumped off the topic as fast as possible. He tried inviting her into his bedroom one more time, "You know, I think I've got some clothes that might fit you. We could have a couple day. What do you think about that?"

"No. Forget it. I am not dressing up like you," Sheena couldn't believe his audacity. "Do your normal bimbos do that?"

Zelos blew a raspberry, "Don't call them my bimbos. And you're right. You're my most special hunny of them all!"

Sheena cringed at where this topic was heading. She snapped at him, "Are you dressed yet?"

"Just a second. Gotta admire myself in the buff." He faked a falsetto, "Oh, Zelos! My hero!" Sheena slapped her head as he faked his own voice, going obviously below his normal speaking range, "Thank you, my fondest hunny. Now, let's have some raunchy sex before we go—"

"Zelos! Dammit, hurry up!" Sheena finally yelled at the redhead, and punched his door just for good measure. She'd had enough of his narcissistic preening. She didn't care if it was an act or not. There was work to be done. She couldn't spend all day waiting for him to put something on.

"Okay, okay! Cool it, would you?" He paused for a moment, and then put on his underwear and white pants. Couldn't go wrong with the white pants. After a second, he added, "Hey, nobody's shown up for me yet, have they?"

"What do you mean?" Sheena was perplexed. Who was he expecting, exactly?

"Ah, it's nothing. I, um . . .The king's . . .Well, it doesn't matter," Zelos didn't bother to explain. His black undershirt went on next."A guard's supposed to keep an eye on me."

Sheena laughed to herself. She murmured, "Like the king's going to sacrifice his forces to babysit you."

"That's what I was thinking! I wish you could have been—wait a second," Zelos rambled on for half a moment, but stopped. He threw on his pink duster and stepped outside of his bedroom. His mind started whirling wildly. "Did you hear something about it?"

Sheena nodded, "You could say that. I stopped by the castle today, just to drop off my diplomatic report. The castle was empty. I have never seen that place so . . .you know. Dead."

Zelos winced at the word, but tried to hide his concern. He smiled, throwing an arm around Sheena's shoulders. "So, you saw the king? I didn't think he would be in the mood to talk about diplomacy."

"We didn't talk for long. He's pretty devastated," Sheena was starting to feel uncomfortable. She tried slipping away from Zelos's grasp, but it wasn't working. He was up to something, and it wasn't his usual tricks. If he was himself, he would have already found her bra strap or goosed her. He wanted her in place for something else. She didn't want to know what.

The redhead smirked, tightening his grip just slightly. "I would think he'd have his entire staff looking for the Princess. You heard about that, right? Being the sly ninja that you are?" He added the tiniest of winks to his statement.

Sheena agreed, slipping her hands under Zelos's arms as she explained, "It came up." She didn't like it when he tried using his charms against her. It just made her frustrated and uncomfortable. She could deal with his physical side—his mental state was something that frequently threw her for a loop. She tried to get him off the topic, "Say, where are you gloves? Aren't you, you know—"

He sensed the ninja's cool demeanor slip. He flashed a smile again, "You know, you never really visit me unless something's up. Why are you here?"

"What? Can't I just stop by?" Sheena backed away from the redhead. "I just had the day to myself. I figured, I was in the area, and—"

Zelos backed her into a corner. He threw his arms around her, pinning her next to the wall. He hated when Sheena was hiding secrets. He smirked again, stroking her bangs. Softly, he whispered, "Sheena, babe, I've got to know. Tell me why you're here."

The idiot would have figured it out, sooner or later. Sheena looked away from the redhead and sighed. "The king asked me to watch you, okay?" She crossed her arms, blowing off smoke. "I couldn't turn him down. He was pretty disturbed by the whole ordeal."

"Oh, my hunny!" Zelos wrapped himself around Sheena. He nuzzled into her collarbone, "You're so sentimental! My passionate ninja warrior coming to the rescue of her beloved and the kingdom, all for altruistic yet romantic reasons. My hero!"

Sheena pushed the redhead off of her before he could make any perverted moves. "Knock it off. I only did it because the king offered me compensation."

Zelos dusted himself off, not at all put off by her backlash. If anything, the struggle made it better. He continued beaming, now determined to get to work. "So, my lovely geisha, should we start investigating the mysterious disappearance of our cute princess?"

"You call me your geisha again, and I'll throw your body off the cliffs of Flanoir," Sheena growled. She wondered if anyone would notice. It would probably take a couple of days for his body to wash up, if he wasn't frozen in an ice cube by that time. She shook off her murderous desires and decided to get back on track. Somebody else could kill Zelos. It was her duty to make sure that didn't happen. Still, if he was going to keep it up . . .

The ninja sighed. This was going to be more arduous than she previously thought.

* * *

Author's Note:

I can't help but laugh when I think of this monster acting like Hexxus. They're kind of similar, aren't they? Minus the whole charisma thing, I suppose.

Zelos sure spends an uncomfortable amount of time in the nude this chapter. How awkward of me. At least I didn't take the next EC to Lemon Town. . .

Anyway, let me know what you're thinking. I can track my reader traffic, but it's much harder to track my reader opinion.

**Ark Navy**—No promises, either way. I'm really having a difficult time writing the next chapter. I've gotten out of practice! For shame!


	3. Lingering Headache

**Chapter Three: Lingering Headache**

The morning was too bright. Dark clouds were heading towards the east, but none blotted over the city of Meltokio. The paved roads were wet. Zelos couldn't recall it raining, so it must have showered while he was sleeping. The worst of the weather had passed through. It looked like it was going to be a nice day. It was a terrible day to be investigating an assault.

The redhead and his buxom ninja companion stepped outside his front door. He was half-expecting people to stare at him and point. Nobody cared too much about whether or not he was outside. They were wrapped up in their own lives. One or two stopped to ponder the carnage in the street, but nobody was angry. The city seemed quieter than usual.

"Has the king told anybody about what happened?" Zelos asked his guardian.

Sheena crossed her arms. "I'm sure the city knows about it. He hasn't released an official statement about it, though. He probably doesn't want anybody knowing about what happened."

Zelos scoffed, "Yeah, right. I waged war halfway through the aristocratic district. I'm pretty sure somebody knows there's a problem." He wrinkled his nose, "Probably the maids. They must have one hell of a story about me by now."

"Like they didn't before," Sheena shook her head. "Let's go, already."

The redhead agreed and locked his door. Slipping his key into his duster's pocket, he asked, "Where to?"

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Scene of the crime, of course."

Well, at least it wasn't a long walk. He still felt embarrassed the entire way there. Sheena led the way, oblivious to the street activity. Zelos wasn't nearly so confident. He sulked behind the ninja, staring at her pink sash. His eyes trailed upwards for half a second, then he kept his eyes on the ground again. If he didn't look up, he didn't have to see anybody else. It didn't matter if they didn't mock him in the street. He felt sick.

No, wait. His stomach lurched. Nausea swept up the back of his throat. He barely had enough time to turn away from Sheena before he fell ill. She jumped back as the redhead lost it. Several people milling in the streets stared at the incident, but otherwise blew it off. It was Zelos Wilder, after all. He'd probably had one too many to drink.

"Geez! Are you okay?" Sheena fought the urge to shrink away.

Zelos nodded. "I'll be alright. Guess breakfast didn't agree with me." His jaw quivered, and he thought he was going to heave again. Nothing came up.

Sheena grabbed Zelos by his arms and helped him back up. "You're disgusting."

"Hey, I kept it on the grass," he tried to defend himself.

The ninja shook her head. It was kind of pitiful to see the vibrant philanderer reduced to vomiting in the streets. Maybe the whole situation was making him sick. She remembered how awful she felt after messing up her first attempt at pact-making. He didn't seem so bad, outside of the whole puking thing. She sighed, knowing that this whole being his guardian thing wasn't going to be such a cake walk. But, if the king was that desperate for help . . .

"Let me know if you need a break or something, okay?" Sheena patted Zelos on the back.

Zelos scrunched up his face. "What, taking mercy on me? I didn't think you cared."

"Come on!" Sheena ditched the redhead. Despite the lingering nausea, he raced her to the stairs of the dance hall. She really didn't participate in his goofy sprint, so he beat her. He pushed the doors open with his back. Seeing the interior of the place drained whatever energy he had left. He stood in the entryway for a few moments, his eyes drifting towards the ceiling. It was so empty.

Sheena nudged past him and entered the large ballroom behind the reception. It was in tatters, for the most part. The grand balcony above her head was split and crushed. Tables were overturned, their decorations mostly gone. The brown and green tiled floor was intact, save for a few smudges and dings. Portraits were crooked and gone from the walls. The entire building felt like it had been aged hundreds of years.

"It's kind of scary like this, isn't it?" Sheena murmured.

Zelos gritted his teeth. "You should have been here last night. That was. . ." He sucked in a breath of air, recoiling at the memory. "Quite the adrenaline rush, though."

Sheena nodded, "I bet." She sighed, then placed her hands on her hips. "Well, should we start looking for clues?"

"Seriously?" He gave her a flat look of disbelief.

"If you want to find your enemy, you have to track them. To track them, you need evidence of what they're like or how they travel," Sheena explained. She took a handkerchief out of a pocket in her robe and started looking for something even more out of the ordinary than the trashed ballroom. It was second nature for her.

Zelos stood in place, glancing around the ballroom. He didn't know quite where to begin. In his thoughts, he placed his hand on the hilt of his blade. He cringed and remembered that he'd forgotten the cardinal rule of sword maintenance. He pulled his sword out and groaned. Sticky membranes clung to the blade like congealed gelatin.

Sheena turned to him, interrupted from her work. "What's the problem?"

"Forgot to clean my sword," Zelos picked at the residue on his sword. It was probably all gummy inside of his sheath as well. It was going to take forever to clean that out.

The ninja hopped over a pile of debris and yanked the sword away from the redhead. She nodded, almost like she was approving of the mess. Starting at the rain guard under the hilt, she slowly ran the cloth across the blade. When she was satisfied with what she collected, she pulled out her ponytail ribbon and tied the handkerchief up. Zelos was shocked to see her without her trademark hairstyle, but he didn't mind it.

Sheena smirked, and then gave the redhead his sword. "Good job being lazy."

"Shut up. I was kind of knocked out at the time," Zelos frowned. He put his sword back in the filthy scabbard, knowing he'd have to clean both later anyway.

"Well, whatever," Sheena shrugged. Her mind snapped, and she thought of something else. "What did this monster look like?"

Zelos cringed at the memory. "Do we really have to talk about it?" The ninja glared at him, and he caved. "Okay, okay. It was kind of. . .I don't know. Blobby." He began to suggest its form with his hands. "It was enormous. Just huge. It had skeletons and eyes, too. But, they looked kind of like human skeletons." His heart skipped a little bit at the memory. "So many of them."

Sheena watched the color drain from his face. It was rare to see him panic like that. She pulled a cushion off a ruined chair and handed it to him. The redhead gingerly took it from her and sat down on the floor. He didn't want those thoughts coming back, but they hit him like a flood. He cringed, wondering how many people had lost their lives. The king was only concerned about finding the princess, but what about everyone else? Didn't he care about what happened to the other victims?

"Did you hurt it?" Sheena pressured Zelos to give her information. He was started to talk about it, and she wasn't going to have him clam back up.

Zelos nodded. "Yeah. Hit it in one of the eyes."

"Hey, that's a good start." She encouraged him to continue, "What did it do to you? How did it knock you out?"

The redhead smiled, but it wasn't a normal expression. It was dry, devoid of joy. "You mean, why didn't it kill me, right?"

Sheena realized that she wasn't going to get an answer to that one. She'd stepped over a boundary. He wasn't feeling good about any of this, and she got too close to what made him sick. She pulled back from him, thinking about what she said that was wrong. Sometimes, she was a little too blunt. She would have to finesse that information from him later. For the moment, she needed to focus on finding more clues.

"Hey, Sheena?" Zelos got the ninja's attention. He stood up again, and then beamed like nothing had happened. "Thanks for—you know—keeping tabs on me."

The ninja just shook her head. "I'm only doing it for the money, Zelos."

The redhead faked his agreement. "Of course." He crossed his arms, still grinning from ear to ear. "Now, if I was Lloyd, would the king have to pay you to babysit me?"

"Shut up," Sheena rolled her eyes.

He half-bounced next to her. "I'm just saying! Not that I'm implying that you like him better than you like me, but—"

Sheena narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to punch you in the face if you keep it up."

"Fine, fine." Zelos threw his hands up in surrender. The ninja turned away from him for a moment. As she walked away, his brain had another mischievous idea. He asked, "How about Regal?"

The ninja spun on her heels and stomped back. "Now you're just being—"

_Clink._

Sheena stopped in midsentence. Something crunched underneath her boots. She picked up her foot carefully and looked at what she stepped on. Her face flushed with hot terror. There was a gooey string of gunk on the floor. It looked like muscle tissue. Grown into the fibers was a vibrant stone. It shimmered like a jewel, but its surface was cracked. A garnet ichor oozed from the gem. Both the ninja and the redhead stared at the object in awe.

Zelos couldn't believe what he was seeing, "Is that. . ."

Sheena nodded. "An exsphere."

* * *

The dead continued to float aimlessly around him. He wasn't quite sure when he had regained consciousness. Everything was a dark scarlet color. His eyes felt cloudy, and he couldn't shut them all the way when he blinked. It was like the world was stuck, everything moving seconds slower than it should. The air was too heavy to breathe. It sank into his lungs like a thick, musty draft and burned inside his chest. What had happened?

The human lulled his head to the right. He knew these people, and yet, they seemed so strange. He kept looking at the lifeless bodies, hoping he would recognize one of them. He should have been horrified, but his mind throbbed too much to let him fret. There was an impulse to run, but the human couldn't move. His body felt numb. He breathed in the stinging air again, his mind flourishing with images. This was so wrong. He should be—

_Carol_.

There was a dead woman about five feet away from him, floating with the same dull expression everyone else had. How many were there like her? Forty? Sixty? Where did she even work? The second floor? She couldn't have been here very long. Maybe she was a temp or a secretary. She wore a gray uniform and skirt. They seemed so new.

_It had climbed over the side of the building_.

He had ordered everyone to evacuate the company office. Some had taken the elevators. They were the first to go, weren't they? The monster came in through the top of the ceiling and went straight down, devouring the employees in the elevator shaft. It was large, but it moved as fast as a river. He'd tried to stop it before it got any further. Carol grabbed him and pulled him into the basement. She was afraid to leave the building, and there was a vault—

_"Mister President!"_

His heart raced. The monster had followed them down into the basement. He tried to hold it off while others escaped, but it was too much. Its body stretched and oozed around his attacks. He had a couple of lucky shots, cracking jagged skeletons fused in its body. It hadn't been enough. It used those skeletons like needles and nails, raking his arms and legs with broad slaps. It caught him across the chest. He staggered. Carol screamed. There was a lot of blood.

_"I'm sorry!_"

That woman was stronger than she looked. She took him by his shoulders and pushed him backwards. The floor went from Berber carpet to steel plates. It was so cold, but it felt good against his stinging wounds. He tried to get back up, but he wasn't fast enough. There was a terrible grating noise, and then the vault slammed shut. The security system whirred into action, bars and wheels grinding everything into a fixed position. He stumbled towards the door. The dumb woman had locked herself out!

Her death was quick. There was a crunch of bone, and then a squelching sound as her body hit the floor. It didn't stay there for long. Her corpse scraped along the floor, and then hit the walls. He backed away from the door. The creature was still trying to get in. It squeezed its body into the walls, traveling through the air ducts. The pulpier parts of it stuck in the ducts, but its liquids tumbled into the vault. His hands burned as he tried to blast his way out of the door. Its freezing touch started at the back of his neck. The cold went through his body, but then it became so warm.

He breathed again. There was something on his face. It felt like a hand stretched over his nose and lips. His body slumped, his head buzzing again. Sleep sounded like a good idea. There was a lot to do tomorrow. Lloyd had requested some more inventory papers. Or was it Zelos? Maybe it was those Sybak University business students again. At any rate, there was paperwork to do. Tomorrow was pay day.

The living one went back to sleep while the dead decayed.

* * *

"It's most likely human."

Zelos made a face of absolute disgust. "What?"

The scientist reassured him. "The cell structure appears to be human. It looks somewhat like sickle cells, but some of the cells do have an extra organelle. It's a low concentration, though Most likely a minor mutation or a cancer cell."

"You've got to be kidding me," Zelos hissed through his teeth.

Sheena had taken Zelos to the Imperial Research Academy for some help. The academy had grown a little since the last time they had visited, but it was still in the same dank laboratory. While they had no official request from the king, the duo thought it was worth a shot to visit the academy. It was either that, or sneak Zelos over the walls of Meltokio. Sheena wasn't hot about violating her companion's terms of probation in public, so they turned here. Luckily, the team of half elves was having a slow day. Besides, it wasn't like they could just turn down an opportunity to study something new.

"Do you want to take a look?" the aqua-haired scientist asked him.

Zelos peeked into the microscope. He hadn't done a lot of studying on biology since he graduated from Sybak, but it was worth taking a peek. Sure enough, there were strangely shaped cells frozen in the glass slide. It didn't mean much to him. He was a mathematical person, not a scientific genius.

Sheena asked about the other object they brought in, "What about the exsphere?"

A blush-haired assistant chirped in, "It's a fairly advanced stone. I've only seen exspheres of this quality on you all." She scratched her nose. "Well, either your group, or on very wealthy people."

"What about all that gunk on it?" Sheena kept prodding the assistant for information. "That can't be normal."

"My best guess is that it's probably nervous tissue," the assistant replied. She hesitated, but continued, "I have to agree with my colleague. It's most likely human."

The ninja felt repulsed. She was expecting something vaguer, like they had found a new sort of monster. There was no way that it could all be humanoid samples. If the monster was anything like Zelos described, it had to be something radically different than a human. Then again, he did say that it had human skeletons inside of it. Maybe it wasn't such a far leap.

"Did the exsphere cause it?" Sheena wondered.

The blonde scientist joined the conversation. "Anything's possible. We'll need more time to study what you brought us, if that's alright with you."

Zelos popped up from the microscope. "Absolutely. Take your time." He smiled at Sheena, "Let's let them get back to work, hmm?"

He was acting frantic again. Despite his sudden burst of energy, Sheena could see his skin pale again. She didn't want him puking in the expensive laboratory. She knew she couldn't afford that. The ninja took his hand and thanked the academy, "Thank you so much."

"No problem. We'll forward you a bill later," the aqua-haired one smirked. Sheena didn't think about how much this little excursion would cost. She could probably cover it on her own. Maybe she could sweet-talk the king into covering it for her. Then again, depending how her investigation ended, the bill might not be her only problem.

The ninja led her companion outside of the academy. He perked up a little bit in the sunlight, but she knew he was still sick about the entire affair. He remained quiet as they ascended the main staircase back to the noble's quarters. Maybe it was a bad time to continue investigating the dance hall. It was a little after two, anyway. It seemed like a good time for a break.

"Are you hungry yet?" Sheena asked.

Zelos cringed at the suggestion. "Still kind of . . .you know. Bleh."

"Just thought I'd ask," Sheena shrugged. She nudged him in the shoulder, "You just take it easy the rest of the day, okay? We're going to be busy tonight."

A glimmer of Zelos's personality gleamed through. "I like where this is going."

"Shut up." Sheena grumbled.

The redhead faked an innocent expression. "What? I thought it was an invitation." He sighed, and then asked, "So, what are we really going to do tonight?"

Sheena smiled, "How does a night on the town sound?"

Zelos groaned, knowing that a romantic evening was not what she had in mind.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hmm. I originally had the second and third parts flipped around. Hopefully, it doesn't lose too much intensity by the end. Not sure the second part needs to be there yet. I just wanted more tension to this chapter. (Not that Zelos losing his lunch isn't exciting stuff or anything like that . . .)

Sorry to say, I don't think Zelos scored as high on the infamous Zelos-ism tracker that y'all have got going on. This was kind of a dark chapter. The next one should be a little perkier.

Not that you probably cared to know, but "Carol on the second floor" is now a running joke between my roommate and myself. Wahoo.


	4. While Twilight Breaks

**Chapter Four: While Twilight Breaks**

The summer heat slithered away as the sun began to fall. Night crept into the town on its stomach. Cheers broke from the coliseum, the crowds roaring with excitement and fright. People in the aristocratic district were few. Stories of the monster's presence had permeated their topic of conversation for the day, and not many wanted to lure it out again. The rumor of such a creature didn't impact the business district as much. The citizens weren't willing to surrender the night, not after the scorching day. People in the slums had little choice but to go out. There were jobs that had to be done.

In the crowds moving around Meltokio, Zelos felt out of place. This was one of the rare times in his life where he tried hiding from others. He wouldn't have gone out for the evening, if it wasn't for Sheena's plan. Being almost a predator herself, she knew how a monster's mind worked. She weaved in and out of the common class flock, watching the shadows for any sudden movements. The monster had attacked a noisy crowd, and that's what she had here. It was only a matter of watching and waiting.

"See anything yet?" Zelos whispered.

Sheena gave him a dirty look. "Quit asking me that."

Zelos shrugged. "Fine, fine. Just asking." Despite the drop in temperature, he was roasting. Sheena's plan for tracking the monster required the duo to be inconspicuous, so she had picked up a couple of dark capes for them to wear. Zelos still thought they stuck out. Most of the people around them wore bright, airy clothes. The only people in cloaks at this time of night were rogues, hustlers, and the poor. It made him feel grimy.

"You're nervous," his ninja companion said.

Zelos cringed, then rubbed his arm. "I don't like being out here with this armband. I feel like a prisoner."

There was a short laugh, and Sheena replied, "You are a prisoner, Zelos. You're just out on probation."

"Hey, don't be so harsh!" Zelos growled. He looked at the metallic band with disgust, and then ignored it again. It was better to pretend it wasn't there. "Don't know how Regal did it."

"Oh, there's worse things to be caught wearing in public," Sheena blew off his comment. She then added with a smirk, "Like, what you normally wear."

Zelos shot her a look. "Don't diss the pink. Chicks dig it."

The duo continued their pace, patrolling the crowd with shrewd eyes. Sheena couldn't see anything too suspicious yet. She was getting sick of the drunkards and the loose women. People in Meltokio were surprisingly tactless. Zelos didn't seem to be so bothered by it. He kept checking out women that passed by him, sometimes amused with what they were wearing. As long as nothing became too violent or out of hand, he was happy just to float along. They were his people, after all.

Sheena grumbled under her breath. "Are they like this all the time?"

"It gets a little rougher in the summer. But, they usually stay in line," Zelos shrugged.

The ninja blew him off. She glanced away from him for a moment. There was the slightest of movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked back, hoping to shake off the sudden chill she got. The crowd was tapering off. They must have been getting further out of the main area of attraction. It seemed kind of weird. They were near the entrance of the city, but nobody was present. She shivered again. There were no guards.

"Zelos? Doesn't the king have a night shift out here?" Sheena asked.

The redhead nodded. "The security might be a little lax out here. I think the king's more concerned about protecting his part of town right now." He pointed out the chains alongside the front entrance, "Besides, they can throw the doors up any time. No big deal."

"I don't like this," Sheena responded. She turned towards the west wing of town and started pacing again. No lights shown from the residential houses or the item shop. Everyone was gone. A flutter skipped across her heart. No one would just abandon a part of a town, not all at once. Something was off.

She looked back at Zelos. "Keep your eyes open. We don't want anythi—"

A tingle shot through her leg. Something constricted around her ankle like cold gelatin. It yanked her to the ground, slamming her down on her butt. She kicked at her ankle and saw a dark reddish tendril wrapped around her. She had a morbid flashback about her encounter with the remnants of the Kharlan Tree in the Tower of Salvation. She dug her fingers into the ground as it pulled her into behind a house, trying not to scream. Whatever caught her was incredibly strong.

"Get back!**Hell Pyre!**" Zelos tossed his sword out into the dim lawn. It severed tissue, dissolving the tendril with a burst of fire. Sheena took her opportunity to escape, grabbing Zelos's sword in the process. He drew his shield out as she rushed behind him. She slipped the sword handle into his right hand and plucked her cards out of her robe pocket.

Sheena gasped, the wind nearly knocked out of her, "What is that?"

Zelos faked a smirk as it came into view. "That would be our party crasher."

It rolled behind another set of homes, popping up close to the item shop. Sheena wasn't quite expecting what came out of the alleyway. It oozed forward, internal contents all stable but skin continually shifting. She saw the orange eyes that Zelos described glowing from cream colored skeletons, all roughly the same size as each other. She was prepared for it to be disgusting. It seemed worse in her own eyes, though. She hadn't expected the veiny webs that clotted the surface like bulges from an old man's hands. She didn't anticipate it to be so towering, even for something that couldn't have been much longer than fifteen feet. It seemed so huge, just rolling and billowing out until its mass made a perfect hill.

There was one striking thing that Zelos hadn't mentioned before. She stammered, "Wha-what is that thing?"

A strange, wiry set of bones lurched out of the top of the monster. It bent over the mess like a bridge, vertebrae emerging from its back every so often. Ribs protruded above the bones. It seemed like such a weird place to have a ribcage. They fused together along the top, continuing the vertebrae's pattern. From between the slivers of space in the ribs, they could see something moving around. Pale hands clung to the ribs, bracing the creature inside as the blob rolled along.

Zelos felt the back of his throat go dry. "Well, that's new." He shook his bangs away from his face, "I don't like where this is going."

The monster almost gleefully greeted him. "**Buuuuuuuupuuuuuuuuuubaaaaaa!**"

Sheena winced. "What? What is it saying?"

"I don't know. It kind of has this weird speech thing," Zelos stammered. Fighting back the urge to throw up, he approached the gelatinous monstrosity. Its hide oozed over itself, like molten lava folding over and over again. The skeletons within the creature all reach out to him, but he kept himself just out of reach. He could remember those painful rakes. They burned on his arms and his chest.

Zelos drew himself up to his full height. "Couldn't just skip out on a meal, could you? Wrong place, buster. I don't take kindly to people eating my neighbors."

The monster stopped wobbling for a moment. It made a hissing nose like a sigh, and then it said, "**Zeelllllllllllosssssssssssssss.**" An awful cackle ruptured across its body. Pockets of air peeked open and disappeared as it continued to talk. "**Plllllleasssure . . .isss mine.**"

"Glad we're on a first name basis. What are you?" The redhead pressured the monster to continue talking. It was about as good as a mouse with a needle taking on a snake. The creature leaned beyond him for a moment, trying to recognize the ninja. A tendril curled out to investigate her, but she slapped it back before it got too close to her. It made another slurping sound, but it failed to remember her. There were so many people there at the time . . .

"**Giiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllllllll,**" The creature moaned.

Sheena was startled. "What?" She regained her composure, smoothing back her hair. "I'm Sheena. I'm here with Zelos to stop you."

Zelos murmured, "Good start. Next time, be scarier."

"Shut up," Sheena snarled back.

A flicker of a memory trickled across the monster's mind. "**Sheeeeenaaaaaaaaaaaa**." She was the girl in lavender, further to the back. The entire party was closing in on him. He wasn't frightened until the girl drew her axe. Then he died. Then he became it. That's what had happened. It shook with laughter again, muttering mindlessly, "**Soo weeeeeak. That maaaan.**"

Sheena lifted an eyebrow. "What's it talking about?"

"Hell if I know," Zelos shrugged. He screwed up his courage, and then approached the monster. He pointed one finger at it and started his verbal assault, "Now, listen here! A lot of decent people died last night. I'm not saying that we can't settle this mano a mano later or whatever you'd like to do, but I've got to know one thing. Did you kill the princess?"

"**Princccesssssss?**" The monster was confused. It wasn't sure what exactly a princess was. It must have been something important, but the strange red-haired human wasn't clarifying. There was no way to tell what a princess looked like. What kind of a stupid human thing was a princess?

"Chosen!"

Zelos craned his head upwards. He'd heard a noise come from the strange rib-like growth in the slime-creature's back. All he could see were two hands bracing against the side of the lump of bones. Squinting his eyes, he could barely make out a humanoid form trapped within. He saw wide, terrified eyes and a pale face, all covered with golden hair. A pang of terror rocked him. That was her!

The monster realized at the same time what the chatty red-headed human was talking about. It roared, lashing out at the two humans. They just wanted his gold girl! Both the ninja and her friend jumped out of the way, barely dodging a heavy wave of slime and bones. It pierced the side of a wall, ripping jagged chunks of plaster out. There were fewer things it wanted more in this world than this girl. She told it secrets and information it had forgotten. Only one thing would appease it, and the humans clearly did not have it with them. It would be better just to devour them too.

"Just listen for a second!" Zelos yelled at the creature. It squelched, but he didn't know if he had gotten its attention or not. With all those skulls and eyes, it was hard to tell if it was looking at anything in particular. He gulped, then made his demands, "We just want the princess back. You can try eating us later, or whatever you do." His eyes narrowed, "Just give us Hilda."

The blob made a smacking noise, its gooey surface bubbling with frantic activity. Sheena backed away from it, not sure what it was planning to do. It sat for a few moments, just seething and churning. It made a noise like a whale sighing, then it said, "**Ttrrraaaaaaaaade.**"

Both the redhead and the ninja's skin prickled. Sheena was the braver of the two. She approached it again, "What do you want?"

"**The maaaaan waassss weeeak. The giiiiiiiiiirl. . . so strooooooooooong**," the monster hissed. It made a terrible sound, almost like a warbled laugh. Regaining its composure, it cackled, "**Puuureesseeeaaa**."

Zelos felt his throat tightened, and the back of his mouth went dry. "Presea? Is that wha—who you want?"

"Zelos!" Sheena snapped at him. Her eyes burned, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to keep it talking! Give me a sec." Zelos growled back. Pushing back a strand of hair, he readdressed the monster. "You're talking about Presea Combatir, am I right?"

"**The giiiiiiiiiiiiirl. . .sheee did it. So strooooooooooooong!**" The monster was wailing at them now. It sounded angry and frustrated, almost like a sobbing child. Its skeletal insides shrieked as well, although they made no noise as they flared to life. Hilda recoiled in terror, but didn't cry out.

Zelos took control of the conversation again. He breathed slowly, then said, "You know I won't do that, right? She's our friend. I could get you a lot of things—hell, I'd give you myself. But I can't trade my friends, okay? Name something else."

He was expecting it to lash out at him and swallow him on the spot. The blob didn't move, though. There was another squishing sound, deeper and more frantic than the last noise it had made. It sounded like a crowd laughing at them. Sheena tensed up, now past the point of talking to the monster. Zelos still didn't move, keeping his eyes narrow and his posture straight. He had it communicating, and he wasn't going to throw that off.

"**Caannnnnot find the giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl. The tiiiiiiiide. So smaaaall. So biiiig**," The monster made his claim seem like a calm, clear statement. It wasn't very logical, but it spoke with such a strange passion. There was a dark edge to its tone. "**Heeeeeeee . . .so smaall. So biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig. The heeaaaarrt. . .so slooooow. . .**"

Sheena hissed, "Heart? You don't have a heart!" She glanced it over again, and then corrected herself, "Well, I can't see if you have a heart. I don't know!"

The blob roared back, raucous laughter overtaking it.It taunted them, "**The saaaaaaaaand. . .the tiiiiiiiiiiiiide . . .the heaaaart beaaaats. . .so slooooow. Rennoooh. . . Heee achesssssssssss!**"

A light sobbing sound broke the conversation. Hilda cried, "I am so sorry! I had no choice, Zelos!"

"What? What did you do?" Zelos asked. His pulse began racing.

The monster rumbled again. Its entire body rocked backwards, jarring the princess trapped inside. The golden girl was saying too much to the others. It needed more time to finish its tasks. It bellowed at the duo, "**I goooo! I hunnnnnnnnnnnt! I fiiind Puureessseeeeaaaa!!**"

Hilda screamed as the monster crashed down into the ground, instantly swallowing her form. It rolled with surprising speed, plowing away from the ninja and the redhead like a battering ram. With another squelching sound, it threw its gloppy tendrils backwards. Both the ninja and the redhead were caught off guard, smashed away like gnats. It felt like someone had struck them with a jam-covered mace.

Zelos landed awkwardly on his right arm. His ninja friend had enough sense to catch herself in midair and stop on her feet. She dashed after the beast, but she was too slow. It slunk out of sight, slurping down an exposed manhole. She paced frantically for a moment, then gave up her hunt. The idiot needed help, and she wasn't keen on fighting something of that size on her own in the sewers.

Sheena found Zelos on the ground, pushing himself upright with his left arm. She helped him up, shaking dirt off his robe. He grimaced, "Ouch. That could have been a nasty break."

The ninja panicked. "What are we going to do? It just about killed us!"

"Well, I know one thing I don't want to do. There's no way in hell the king's going to know about this," Zelos sucked air through his teeth. He gave himself a quick look over, and then continued. "Do you think we can just gloss over this whole event? I mean, all he has to know is we found it."

Sheena nodded. "I'm supposed to tell him if we see any sign of his daughter." She leaned against one of the shop walls. "At least she's alive. I'm getting worried about Presea, though."

"Aah, she's a tough girl. But, you're right. We should warn her," Zelos smiled. He gave the slightest of glances towards the sturdy gates and walls surrounding the exterior of the city. "I don't think sending her a postcard would be the best thing, would you? Someone should really check in on her . . ."

"Oh, no you don't!" Sheena yanked Zelos to her side. "We are not going to go out there, you got that? It'll look like I'm hiding you! Do you know how much trouble Mizuho could get in?"

Zelos kept his grin, letting it settle just enough to become serious. "You're a ninja. If anybody could sneak us out of here, it's you."

That smile put a devious thought in her head. Sure, there were several ways to get out of town. She could brute force her way through. She could sneak out over the walls. Heck, with the guards missing, they could just walk out the door. She didn't want to deal with the moral repercussions from those things, though. She may be a trained assassin, but she had codes of honor to follow. There was one strategy that seemed the best. It wouldn't even take that much lying or sneaking around to pull off. It would just require a little subtlety. That, or . . .

"You're right," Sheena nodded. "I've got an idea."

Before he could ask what that was, he saw Sheena's right fist curl. There was a blunt stinging sensation in his jaw. He was out before he hit the ground.

She sighed. "You'll look more convincing this way."

* * *

Author's Note:

I know, bad me! No breaks! Well, I hope it was intriguing enough to carry you along.

Again, please let me know what you think. Doesn't have to be too much, really. Just let me know that you finished, even.


	5. Into the Golden Horizon

**Chapter Five: Into the Golden Horizon**

He came to with a disturbing nausea in his stomach again. It wasn't the same as before. The world felt like it was rocking back and forth around him, surging up and down from time to time. He sat upright and banged his skull into a metal roof. Hissing, he took a look around. It took him a couple of seconds, but he recognized the questionable craftsmanship and terrible upholstery. He was on an aquatic Elemental Cargo.

A voice called from the front of the tiny ship, "Are you okay?"

"Peachy! Just peachy!" Zelos replied. He hopped off his cot and wobbled towards the front, only taking a brief moment to glance at his reflection in a window. He blanched at his visage. There was a dark purple circle around the base of his jaw, another shiner glimmering around his right eye. A thick scarlet line ran across his left cheek. It looked like someone had taken a beam of lumber and smashed his face in. He was horrified.

"What the hell? What happened to my face?" Zelos gasped. "Oh, sweet mother of Mithos! Is that going to leave a scar?"

"Shut up and sit down! I got us out of Meltokio, okay?" the driver yelled.

Zelos was not surprised to find Sheena behind the controls of the Elemental Cargo. She had similar cuts and bruises on her face as well, but she had a few more on her arms and collar bone. He felt worried and angry. Someone had hurt his ninja lady while he was out! He smashed his fist into his palm, "I'm sorry. I'll get whoever did this to you!" He stopped for a second, and then realized his mistake. "Wait a second. You knocked me out!"

"It made it easier to lie to the king," Sheena shrugged. "I told him we found the monster, but it beat us up. I, of course, barely rescued us. It talked about being on the move, so I asked for permission to hunt it down outside of the city. He caved."

Zelos flopped into the chair next to her. "Well, great, I guess." He lulled his head to the side and sighed. That damn bracelet was still there. It was less shiny that it once had been, now somewhat tarnished. It wouldn't be too long before the damn thing rusted away. How long would it be there?

The redhead kicked his legs up on the console, crossing them at the heels. He closed his eyes and folded his arms behind his head. "So, where are we going?"

"Ozette," Sheena said.

He nodded, liking the sound of it. "Sure. Going to find Presea, right?"

Sheena agreed, "Of course." Her voice took on a cold tone. "I don't know what we're dealing with, but I don't want it finding her alone."

Zelos made no snappy comeback. The thought of that thing finding the girl was chilling. His skin prickled at the idea. An entire legion of the king's finest soldiers wasn't enough to take this monster down. He was pretty sure that, had the beast had any sense, both Sheena and he would have been dead as well. There were inconsistencies with the monster. It had an unfulfilled urge to devour, but it kept Hilda alive. It knew where Zelos lived, but it didn't hunt him down in the day. It looked like something out of a nightmare, but it was at least made up of human parts. It wasn't intelligent or linguistically gifted. It was just ruthless.

He snapped out of his somber state. "How much longer?"

"Probably about half an hour." Sheena shrugged. "We'll have plenty of time to find her. We've just got to be back to Meltokio by dusk."

Zelos sighed. "So the king didn't let us completely off the hook?"

The ninja laughed. "Of course not. You think he'd leave his town unpro—"

_Gu-fuh._

There was a heavy thump inside of her head. It felt like her heart was blasting her brain out. Her vision went white, fogging over in a liquid cloud. She braced the ship's wheel, trying not to fall out of her chair. Zelos jumped, catching the wheel with his right hand and wrapping another arm around Sheena. She shuddered in his grasp, slumping into his chest. Her mind burned and ached. Her breathing went ragged, only managing shallow gasps.

Zelos slammed buttons, throwing the ship into an instant halt. He sat the ninja on the floor, unsure what was going on. It wasn't like a seizure—she still seemed very conscious. He held her for the time being, trying to get her to snap out of it. She wasn't fighting him. It was terrifying. She continued hiccupping, making a strange noise between a sob and a gasp.

And then she stopped.

The ninja opened her eyes again. The haze had faded away. She pushed herself away from Zelos, muttering curses in Mizuho code. Zelos boggled at her, but he didn't get any answers. She had just recovered. What was going on?

"Are you okay?" Zelos asked, getting up off the floor.

Sheena turned to him, but didn't say one way or another. "That was weird."

Zelos nodded slowly. "Uh huh. You were . . .aah . . .out of it." He pushed himself off the floor, dusting his rump off. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see or breathe . . ." Sheena slumped back into the driver's seat. "Never felt anything like that before."

The redhead scratched at his scalp. "That was frightening. And you're just okay now?"

"Don't look at me like I'm a freak. I wasn't the one puking up in neighbor's yards yesterday," Sheena shot back.

Zelos screwed up his face, but he didn't make a comeback. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Sheena's shoulders and legs. While she was protesting, he picked her up and dropped her into the next seat. She sneered at him, and then punched him in the left arm. She caught his bracelet and sent a mild shock through his body. He yipped in surprised—that stung a little more than he expected.

"Ow! Would you cut it out?" Zelos growled. He rubbed below the armband, and eventually the pain faded. He plopped himself into the Elemental Cargo's driver seat. With a few switch flips and button presses, the craft hovered back to life. He smirked, "If you're going to be a twitch hazard, I'm going to drive."

Sheena didn't argue with him. She wasn't above name-calling, though. "Idiot Chosen."

Zelos shrugged. "Don't be jealous. I'll have us there in no time."

The ninja just shook her head. She was never going to hear the end of this.

* * *

That day on the cliffs.

For the first time in quite a few hours, his mind fluttered with activity. He should have known better. They should have searched longer, combed the beaches and the sea for at least a month. There was so little time, though. The company was struggling to recover from fiscal damages caused by destroying the mines. They had other hot tips for finding exspheres, and they needed to follow those leads. All they had was that one little day—just a day before the week geared back up.

Colette was so excited to be out there. They were just beyond where the Earth Temple lay in shambles. It was the first time in a long while that she got to go swimming. She'd had just a taste of beach life in Altamira, but that was enough to hook her. Lloyd was thrilled too. He even brought his snorkel with him. It wouldn't be a lot of use, considering how far they were going down, but his enthusiasm was remarkable.

His head hurt.

They spent most of the morning learning how to scuba dive. It took them a little while to get comfortable with the pressure from the depths, but they shrugged it off quickly. They were excited to see what was left of the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. Most of it was underwater now, torn apart by the shifting continents. Still, white pillars popped out of the ground every once in a while. The damage traced north of Meltokio's continent, giving it a brick crown. Deep underwater, there were so many more pillars. It looked like submerged ruins. If Raine wasn't so afraid of swimming, she would have loved it too.

The day went by slowly. They poked and prodded around every piece of debris there was. Colette thought she had found one, but it turned out just to be a bracelet charm. She adored it, though. The blonde went on for a while about how she was going to polish it and wear it later. She said that the gemstone looked like it had a thunderstorm in it. Lloyd called her a dork. She giggled. It was fun.

But they never found any of the exspheres.

"It's okay," Colette was always so optimistic. "We'll find them!"

He worried about scavengers. What about damage to the ecosystem? Were any of them destroyed? Where did they all go?

Lloyd was positive, too. "They've got to be around her somewhere. They couldn't have all disappeared."

Three thousand of them. Three thousand exspheres, all vanished. He was probably right; it wouldn't take that long to locate them. But a week had passed, and they had picked up rumors of a caravan hocking off exspheres as normal gemstones. They had to cancel their search for that weekend. And the next. And the next. But they could do it this weekend. He got their letter yesterday. They would come back.

His chest burned.

Maybe that's what had happened. It was getting harder to see, but he could still make out shapes. He would lose consciousness from time to time, and then he'd wake back up. They would be a little less flesh, a little more bone. Their heads would look at him, and there would be spheres in their sockets. They glowed, from time to time. The room would surge and ache. It felt so small in here. He could hear the metal creaking as the creature pushed against it. It was still too weak to break out. The pressure was beginning to rise. He felt like he was under the ocean again.

He felt sick.

It wanted his exsphere, too. It was trying to get it, but his body was repelling it. The creature was trying to dissolve him, but it couldn't do it. It was about as corrosive as hot tea. He knew that his existence was making it ill, too. He was like a tumor it couldn't expel. So it just grew around him, letting him continue to exist and burn until he stopped. It wouldn't be much longer, anyway. It was getting harder to breathe.

When they came back, they would die too.

* * *

A small shack lay on the outskirt of Ozette. It was one of the intact places left in the small village. People were hard at work to restore the town, though. They worked on the upper ends, trying to get the shops and the hotels back up and running. The tiny house hadn't changed that much. It was mostly old lumber, although a few logs here and there had been replaced. It still had a dreary overcast to it, but there were flowers and curtains in the window. There were even chairs out on the porch. It seemed kind of homey, for once.

But it was completely empty.

Zelos kept pounding on the door. "Presea? Pres-eeee-aaa!" He knocked a few more times, "Come on! It's me, your number one knight in shining armor!"

"I don't think she's home," Sheena muttered.

Zelos rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Where else would she be?" He continued hammering on the door, "Pres-eeeee-aaaa! My lovely rosebud! Come on! This is kind of important!"

"Aye, would ye cut it out already?"

The ninja and the redhead turned to a surly construction worker with a grizzled beard. He barked at him, "The gal went on a trip. Ya just missed her by a couple o' days."

Zelos slammed his face into his palm. Sheena took over for him, "Do you have any idea where she went, or when she's coming back?"

The worker shrugged. "Not a clue. But she said she'd be back early next week."

"Fantastic." Zelos wrinkled his nose. "Should have guessed something like this was going to happen."

Sheena nudged the redhead in the ribs, hoping that would shut him up. He made a coughing noise, like she'd knocked the wind out of him. She was quick to thank the worker for his information, and then dragged Zelos away from the house. She didn't like standing outside of an empty house. It made her feel like a thief.

The duo made it outside of the village. Zelos was unusually quiet about the whole situation. A sickening feeling started rising in his throat. They could just wait a couple of days—really, it would just be the weekend. How far could the monster get without transportation? How did it get around, anyway? Maybe it would be a better idea to keep her away from Meltokio. At least he knew that's where the monster was. If it could get out anywhere else, it couldn't be that fast. Maybe they could wait.

He shivered. "No way."

Sheena shot him a look. "No way what?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm kind of worried." Zelos paced in front of her. He placed his hands on the back of his neck. "How much longer do we have until we have to get back?"

The ninja surveyed the sky. The sun was about directly overhead now. "I'd guess maybe five, six hours."

Zelos nodded. "Okay. We could probably swing by Sybak or Altamira before we go back to Meltokio. Do you think Mizuho would know anything about Presea's location?"

"I don't know, Zelos," Sheena grumbled. "It's just a vacation. We probably wouldn't need to keep tabs on her for just that."

Zelos growled. "And I thought you ninjas knew everything!" He placed his left arm akimbo, pushing out of the forest brush with the other. "You know, I wish that somebody would just throw me a—"

_**Clank!**_

The red head collapsed at the forest's edge. Sheena ducked behind a tree, pulling a few seals out of her robe. How could she let her guard down? She waited behind the trunk, hoping that whatever had attacked Zelos would come into sight. Her heart raced. Footsteps crunched as they approached his fallen body. It sounded like there was more than one of them. She'd have to be alone on this one. It was just her verses—

"Oh, no! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."

Sheena dropped her guard and sighed. It was just another dumb Chosen. She pealed from out of her hiding spot and went to check up on Zelos. There was a sizeable scratch in his forehead, but other than that, there wasn't any fresh damage. Colette, however, was very confused about his sudden appearance. She had the redhead in a headlock, stroking his hair and profusely apologizing. It was kind of funny.

"Colette? What happ—oh. Hi, Sheena," the blonde's companion greeted the ninja. He jogged from the shoreline, smiling as bright as ever. There was something charming about Lloyd's perpetual optimism.

Sheena crossed her arms and smirked. "Well, I'm shocked to see you two out here. I thought you'd be going through some dank caverns right about now."

Lloyd's cheerful expression flattened into one of embarrassment. "We're not Raine and Genis, you know."

"Good thing too, otherwise I'd be out all day," Zelos moaned. He sat back up and rubbed his head. "That's going to sting later."

Colette stood up, satisfied that she hadn't incapacitated the redhead. She beamed, "Sorry about that. Lloyd and I were just on a break, so we were playing a game of catch. I guess I must have thrown it a little too hard."

Sheena shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, well. Maybe your chakram was guided by karma."

"Karma? Are you kidding me?" Zelos bounced off the ground, now filled with a new wave of energy. "I haven't done anything today that warranted a disc to the face!"

Lloyd snickered, but resisted giving a smartass comeback. He ignored the redhead's plight, asking his friend, "So, what are you guys up to?"

"You wouldn't believe it." Sheena threw her arms up in the air, over-exaggerating her frustration. "Zelos was arrested by the King of Meltokio, I was appointed as his warden, and a gigantic blob monster is eating the city!"

Colette wrinkled her nose. "How awful!"

Zelos nodded. "I know!" He brought a hand up under his chin, thinking for a moment. "Worse off, it's kidnapped the princess."

Lloyd's eyebrows furrowed. "What? Why didn't you guys tell us about that?"

Zelos shot Lloyd a dirty look. "I was busy at the time, okay?" He blew off the swordsman's suggestion. "Besides, it's not like you two are easy to track, what with the whole journey to collect expheres and—"

The redhead stopped midsentence. He glanced over at Sheena, who wasn't catching on quite as fast as he was. With a slow realization, her eyes widened. The monster was made up of exspheres. Lloyd and Colette were hunting the stones. Jackpot.

"Are you two okay? You kind of look sick," Colette asked after an uncomfortable period of silence.

Sheena grimaced, but decided to tell them. "Zelos was able to hurt the monster. We had the scientists at the Imperial Research Academy investigate what he cut off. Turns out, part of it is made out of exspheres."

Lloyd's face muddled in confusion. He delivered his thoughts on the matter in as much complexity as he could muster. "What?"

Zelos paced around the duo, "But that's not even the weirdest part! It knows me, and Sheena, and—and Presea! That's why we came here to find her."

"Really? That's a relief," Lloyd wiped his forehead. "From the way you guys were talking, I thought you were trying to outrun the Meltokio guards or something."

Sheena blanched at the comment. "H-How could you say something like that?"

The swordsman gulped. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Did you find Presea?" Colette interrupted the conversation, hoping to avoid any conflicts.

Sheena appreciated the change in subject. "No. The workers around town said she was on vacation." She sighed, and then added, "I suppose you guys wouldn't know where she is, either."

Both of them shook their heads. Lloyd explained, "We were just following another exsphere rumor around here. We had a little more time on our hands, so we thought we'd come back."

"Rumor, huh?" Zelos half-smiled. "What kind of rumor did you hear this time?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Colette and I have been trying to get exsphere out from where we think the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge fell. There's a lot of debris to the south of here, but we haven't found any exspheres."

"You haven't found three thousand exspheres?" Sheena gasped. "Geez, you think you'd find at least broken ones or something."

Zelos couldn't believe it either. He shook his head, "It's not like anyone would go excavating exspheres from the ocean. Well, nobody but you two. I mean, you'd think you'd see a flood of them on the black market or something."

Colette was disturbed by it as well. "It's like going into an orchard, but there are no apples on the trees. It's like something gobbled them up."

The analogy didn't sit well in Zelos's mind. All he could think of was a gigantic fish swooping around the bottom of the ocean, just sucking up everything it could find. Exspheres just didn't vanish. It would have to take a coordinated effort to get all those exspheres. That, or it would have to be something very big. Enormous. Engulfing.

Zelos snapped to attention. "When did you guys go looking for them last?"

"About a month ago. Regal took us scuba diving around here," Colette answered. She showed off her wrist. "I found this little charm when we were diving. I thought it was pretty."

Sheena's mind twisted in a grotesque thought. "And you didn't find any then?" Both the blonde and the swordsman shook their heads. The ninja gritted her teeth, then asked, "Has he contacted either of you since then? Did he find any exspheres?"

Lloyd shook his head, still more confused than panicked. "No. Sheena?"

Zelos's brain clicked into gear. "The monster knew me and Sheena. And Presea. But how would it know all three of us?" His jaw went slightly agape as he continued thinking out loud. "It's made out of exspheres. That's an important part of its body." He grabbed onto Lloyd's jacket, shaking him at the elbows. "And where would you go to find out where old exspheres are?"

Lloyd's face scrunched up, almost like he was confused about the answer. "W-well, Colette and I usually ask Regal about—"

"That's it!" Zelos shoved Lloyd backwards, knocking him to the ground. He hissed between his teeth, uttering a cuss under his breath as he ran back towards Ozette. His remaining friends stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief. It was like he had taken a few too many hits to the head or was skirt-chasing. Lloyd tried to think of something to say, but was confused by the whole affair. He got back off the grass and dusted his pants off.

Colette murmured, "I wonder what that was about."

"I think we're going to Altamira now." Sheena grumbled. "Here we go again." She took off into the forest, running after the redhead like a hunter chasing a rabid hart. She hissed back behind her, "You guys coming or what?"

The duo looked at each other and sighed. So much for their game of Frisbee.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Sorry about the length of time between my last post and the dialogue dump at the end. I had a lot going on in my mind.

College started. My great-grandpa died. Crap happens.

Anyway, please leave a review. This was a weak chapter, but I hope you can forgive me.


	6. The Hurricane Dances

**Chapter Six: The Hurricane Dances  
**

The sea faded in color as the sky turned a dismal shade of gray. Everything washed out, color draining on the edges of the moving storm. Lightning shimmered across the sky and ended in explosive thunder. Warm rain pelted the dull ocean. The same storm that had previously haunted Meltokio now had Altamira in its clutches. While it hadn't picked up enough power to spin into an all out hurricane, its presence was still tangible.

As the Elemental Cargo pulled into port, the group noticed something abnormal. The coast was lined with ships, but none of them were running. They hadn't encountered anyone passing this way, either. It was like they had all been marooned or abandoned. The ones that had been improperly tied down drifted into the outskirts of the town, some smaller vessels flipped on their sides. No one wanted to say what they were thinking. It could have been some freak tide or storm that had passed through before. It was so strange to see the coast frozen in time.

Zelos was the first to break the silence. "Anchors away, I guess."

"Just shut up and get to the coast," Sheena cut him short.

Within a few minutes, the group settled on the white coasts enveloping the town. Zelos took care of the ship with a snap of his fingers, shrinking the vessel inside of the wing pack. Lloyd frowned, taking the action into consideration. He still wasn't used to some of the more advanced technology that Tethe'alla had developed. "You think everyone else could have done that?"

Sheena nodded. "Probably for the smaller boats, anyway. Maybe not cruise ships, but I really don't know."

Colette murmured softly, "The park's not running."

Everyone turned to the direction of the amusement park. Nothing was operational. The Ferris wheel swung back and forth in the storm, but did little else as far as movement went. A flock of seagulls sat along the tracks of the roller coaster, flying here and there from time to time. There were no sounds of children laughing or the usual hustle of people. Despite its bright colors, it looked dark and looming, like the attractions could fall over and crush anything nearby within minutes.

"Ah, you've got to be kidding me," Zelos winced. "There's got to be somebody here, right?"

Nobody answered his question. Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck, trying to stuff down his concern. "Well. . .let's just go find Regal."

Colette nodded, now fueled by a spark of optimism. "Right. He's got to know something about missing exspheres. Maybe he'll even know where Presea is!" She clapped her hands at the sound of the idea. "Come on! Let's go!"

Zelos made a pained face. "As long as we don't have to skip and hold hands."

The quartet found the tracks that ran to the Lezareno company office soon enough. To Zelos's dismay, no cart waited for them. The ferryman was missing as well. Sheena didn't seem to mind so much. She stepped onto the tracks, water wading up to her ankles. A slurping feel squashed in between her toes. It wasn't all that bad, though.

The rest of the members followed her down the watery path. Colette managed to keep drier than everyone else, hovering over the railroad tracks. Zelos kept having bad thoughts about lightning striking them. He knew he was going to have to replace his boots after this. It wasn't like he couldn't afford it, but he'd rather not waste his money on getting a pair of boots that he already had. He watched the ninja and the swordsman in front of him, wondering how they could be so complaisant about sloshing on.

As they finally came to the company headquarters, they were greeted with the same stark appearance that the rest of the town had. The building's glass windows were caked with grime. There was one tiny flicker of activity, though. Two floors up, on a desk by a window, was a minuscule light. It was dying, blinking in and out like an emergency signal. At least something was active in the building.

Lloyd lead the way, entering the building and hopping into the main lobby. Zelos followed, wringing out the bottom of his pants as soon as he was out of the water. Sheena shook her head, not believing how vain he was. Colette came in after her, hovering over the protective railing and landing with a small bump on the ceramic floor. She smiled, but the expression was short lived.

"Looks like nobody's here," Colette sighed. She walked over to the receptionist's desk, hoping to find a clue. Water-logged documents laid in heaps around the desk, records faded from legibility. What she could make out wasn't promising. It looked like it had been a couple of days since anything had been logged. It was so strange, though. Wouldn't somebody notice if the Lezareno company just stopped running?

Her attention drifted to her left, "Nobody's been here since—Kyaaa!!"

Everyone's focus jolted to the object in front of one of the dilapidated elevators. It was rigid, fixed for all eternity in a perfect ninety degree angle. The object was slender, covered in was looked like scraps of cloth. Upon further examination, it was tatters of a suit jacket. It looked like someone had stuck their arm too far out of the elevator, and as it collapsed. . .crunch.

Zelos couldn't push the image from his mind. "Ugh. How. . .man."

"Well, seems like we've established that nobody's been here for a while," Sheena scrunched up her face.

Lloyd crossed his arms. "Then why is that light on upstairs?"

"Good question." Sheena agreed. "I know a way we could find out."

"Hell no. I'm not going up there." Zelos shook his head. "I've had enough crap for one day."

Sheena shrugged. "Fine, then." She waved Colette over. "Come on. Looks like it's you and me. Let's go."

"What? I want to go up there too!" Lloyd protested.

The ninja smirked. "Someone's got to take care of that idiot. If he doesn't want to come up with me, then he can stay with you. You're tough enough to deal with any monster, right?"

Lloyd frowned. "Fine. Guess we should check out what's going on around here, too."

"No, no, no. We are not doing this!" Zelos continued to fight against the idea. "You know what happens when people split up in a creepy mansion? Bad things. And this is like a hundred times worse than any old house could be." He flailed his arms around, pointing at the dead object on the floor. "Do you see that? I'm not going through life as an amputee!"

Colette flashed Zelos a smile. "It's okay. We'll be back down shortly." With that, she flew off the ground and up the elevator shaft. She disappeared in a flash of pink mana. Sheena nodded, liking the blonde's style. She charged into the shaft, grabbing onto a loose cable. With the dexterity that only a ninja squirrel could possess, she began to ascend the elevator shaft.

Zelos couldn't believe his eyes. "You know there's a stairwell, right?"

"It's more fun this way," Sheena laughed. Within a few seconds, she was gone, leaving the two swordsmen to their own devices.

After some time spent staring at the stairwell, Lloyd suggested, "Well, let's get this over with." He turned towards the stairs, peaking down into the rooms below. There was some light, although it was extremely dim. With a shrug, he went on down. He didn't take the time to argue with the redhead. He knew that Zelos would have to cave if he didn't want to be alone.

Zelos was tentative to follow him downstairs. His nerves were on edge. There was a disturbing smell like vinegar mixed with iron reeking from down there. He gave the elevator shaft a glance, wondering if he should have followed the ninja instead. Oh, well. He clenched his jaw and followed the boy down the dim stairwell.

It was no better once he reached the bottom floor. The air smelt worse, vinegar giving away to something that stuck in the back of his sinuses. It was thick, almost giving the air a coppery taste. He covered his mouth and nose, hoping it would be enough to shake off that smell. Lloyd looked equally disgusted, but he made no attempt to block it out. He was more concerned with his surroundings.

"You know, we could still wait for the girls to get done upstairs," Zelos muttered through his hands.

Lloyd nodded, but blew him off. "Whatever's down here is pretty strong."

Zelos wrinkled his nose. "I don't think Regal would have let it get this bad."

"Yeah," Lloyd replied after a moment, but it seemed too short and awkward for the talkative boy. The redhead noticed a slight frown in the boy's expression. He looked like he was chilled, his skin gleaming slightly. He shivered once and collapsed to his knees.

Zelos knelt down next to him, trying to pull Lloyd back up. "Easy there, Bud"

The boy's body stayed locked in place, almost like he was frozen. He gritted his teeth, fingers digging into the floors. Lloyd hissed, breath too shallow to make out sentences. Zelos braced the swordsman, hoping he wouldn't start convulsing. His arms felt like marble, too solid to be flesh. It was like the morning again, sitting next to another friend getting sick. At least he wasn't having seizures.

There was a gasp of pain, and Lloyd snapped out of it. He grabbed his left hand, massaging the skin around his exsphere. He pulled his glove back, revealing red burns around the sphere. Zelos took the boy's hand and channeled a spell through it, hoping that would patch it up. A white aura buzzed around his hand, then faded away. The skin was still a little red, but the pain in the body's hand was gone.

"Are you okay?" Zelos asked.

Lloyd was slow to respond, but nodded. "Yeah." He smiled, despite the situation. Getting back up on his feet was a task. With a small wobble, he stood up. He rubbed his left hand again, "That was strange. I felt like I was frozen."

Zelos hopped back up, confused about the sudden illness. He scratched at his scalp, "Sheena got sick earlier today, too. Come to think of it, I got sick yesterday."

"Weird. I didn't think there would be a bug going around this time of year," Lloyd thought. He crossed his arms, "Well, now's not the time to worry about it. Let's check this place out, and then we can go back up." As he continued leading the way, Zelos couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the boy's motivation. It wouldn't last very long, but it was usually enough to get the job done.

It got very dark as they progressed towards the center of the basement. There were no windows, and the walls were made of steel. The floors were carpeted with Berber, all yellowed and brown from age. At first glance, it seemed like no one had been down here for decades. They peeked through a few doors, but saw only file cabinets and broken furniture. It was like a forgotten storage space. That image permeated the basement for some time, only giving way when the two swordsmen found a door left haphazardly open. There they found the worse signs of decay.

There was a strange ichor that leaked from the sealed doorway in the back of the room. It was black and slick like oil, but thick and congealed around the edges. The liquid had been there for some time. It stained the metallic vault door, leaving coppery, greasy streaks. Growths bloomed out of ducts in the top of the walls, trailing down like trumpet vines. Their orange, narrow shapes seemed like an infection. It smelt horrible, like a morgue in heat. Something had been dead down here for some time.

Lloyd covered his face, trying to keep that smell out of his nose. "What is that?"

"I don't know," the redhead responded. His voice trembled a little bit, "I've heard of skeletons in the closet, but geez."

"Come on, Zelos. This looks serious," Lloyd pulled a face. "We might be on to something."

Zelos nodded. "That's what I'm worried about."

There was a gurgling noise that came from the back. It was like a dying roar, half caught in the throat of a zombie. The vines shook to life, wheezing in and out as though they were breathing. The liquid pool on the floor began flowing, oozing out towards the duo like watery fingers. Zelos backed away, barely keeping himself from bolting. Something was awake. He knew what it was.

"Oh, hell no," he hissed. "No way! Not here!"

Lloyd's eyes widened. "What are you—?"

_**BANG!**_

Both men backed away from the sealed door at the end of the room. The lock on the door shuddered, metal bending around the strength of the attack. Bloody gunk oozed out once more, and then something slammed against the door again. It was trying to get out with all of its might, but it could do little more than hammer weakly against the metal. That didn't stop the creature inside from hissing.

"**Wiiiilllllllldeeerrrrrrr. . .**"

It was now Lloyd's turn to start getting edgy. "Wha-What is that?"

Zelos could hardly spit the words out. His throat rattled with a dry rage. "It's what I was talking about earlier, Lloyd. The monster."

The dark voice was amused by his distraught behavior. "**Mmmmooonnssstter?**" It gargled, a strange sound like a muck pit laughing. "**I desssserve a betterrrr title than mmmooonnssssterrrr.**"

Lloyd half-laughed at the situation. "This would be a good place for me to do the whole 'Give me your name' speech, wouldn't it?"

"**Booooyyyyyy. . .**" The monster's voice dragged on for a moment. It gurgled and popped some more, like a great big sigh. The growths on the sides of the walls shuddered as it sucked in air. "**He thought about you, booyyyyyyyyy. . .so sad. So . . .dessssperate**." It spat out the last word, giving it a sharp accent. The word struck Lloyd like a spear through the floor. He shuddered.

Zelos gritted his teeth, hissing questions through them. "How long have you been here? What have you done?"

The monster chuckled, its laughter rolling like waves of thick gelatin. Congealed gunk spilled through the door again. "**Daysss. Trapped in the door. . .too tight. Too small.**" It squelched as it shifted its entire mass. "**But. . .they were so riccccch. . .and fulllll. . .of blood and flesssssh.**"

Both Lloyd and Zelos cringed. The younger of the two felt his throat catch. He never expected anything like this. As far as dealing with monsters went, Lloyd was an expert. He'd cut a swath through the entire planet with all of the fights he'd been in. This monster was different. It was too calculating to be a mindless carnivore, but it wasn't nearly lingual enough to be something even roughly the same intelligence as a human. It was nebulous and ruthless, and that horrified him.

"That's impossible. I fought you last night," Zelos growled.

The monster made a squelching noise that sounded like an aggravated sigh. "**I left myssself. I became we. The girl . . .she said there were . . .heexxspheerress heeerre.**"

Lloyd's eyes widened. "Girl? Does it mean—"

"Probably the princess," Zelos nodded. He burrowed his brow, a disgusted expression scrunching his features. That naïve girl. Why didn't she lie? He pushed the princess out of his mind. "So, what do you mean? You split from yourself? There's two of you now?"

"**Not for long. . .**" The monster sighed again. "**Myssseelf needs meeee. . . Needs more heexxspheresss. . .Needs to be one. I neeeed . . .**"

Lloyd placed his hands on the hilts around his hips. Zelos didn't reach for his weapon. He signaled for Lloyd to cool it. The swordsman frowned, but let go of his swords. He didn't like what Zelos was up to. He just wanted it dead. The way it spoke about others terrified him. This wasn't logic. It was just mindless consumption.

Zelos spoke lowly, trying to keep calm. "You're a little bit more articulate than last time I talked with you. Or, whatever you left in Meltokio."

There was a slapping sound, and laughter rolled out behind the metallic door. "**Sssso much power. Theessssee hexxpheres. . .**" It made an abrupt pop, shaking the walls with its laughter. "**But he refuuusseess! Doessss not give meeeee hissss. Doess not diiiie. Makesss meeee ssssssick! Makeesss meeee . . .breathe.**" It spat out the last word with a burst of energy. The growths inside the ducts swelled, making a wheezing sound. It sounded like a deflated balloon coming back to life.

"How many did you kill? And you want to keep killing?" Lloyd questioned softly, almost at the level of a whisper. His throat was still tight, and he couldn't speak as loudly as he would have liked. "What justifies something like this?"

His accusation echoed in the basement. The world stilled, save for the continuous squashing noses that the monster made. It slowed, almost like it was thinking about what Lloyd said. The flowering growths slowed too, going several seconds without another gasp. Lloyd's heart began racing. He grabbed onto his hilts again, this time not taking them back off. Screw Zelos's warning. He wasn't going to get caught with his guard down.

There was a low rumble that started from the bottom of the floor. Zelos jumped backwards, wondering what was happening. It sounded like the floor was groaning, ready to give away to an earthquake. The quake travelled up the walls and blew out in explosive laughter. Lloyd had done little to dissuade the monster. It cackled at him, bubbles of toxic humor splattering against the walls.

"**He heard you! He heard you!**" The monster suddenly exclaimed, with a chilling level of clarity reserved only for scholars and monarchs. "**Lloyd Irving! The boy who saved the world! The boy who saved his friends! He has come back!**"

Lloyd's skin prickled. He drew both of his swords, setting his feet into a sturdy position. Anger billowed like fire in his lungs. "Don't mock me!"

"Wait! How do you know—" Zelos began, but was cut off.

The monster continued taunting the younger swordsman. "**Would you wait for me to die here, Lloyd Irving? I guarantee that his heart would stop beating long before I perished!**" It roared and squirmed, like a gummy candy roasting in an open fire. "**His exsphere burns! What power! An exsphere tempered by—AAGCK!!**"

_**BANG!!**_

The creature thrashed against the front of the vault, a jack-hammering sound that rang through the entire building. Both swordsmen jumped away from the wall, Zelos finally arming himself. It continued smashing itself against the vault's front door, the hinges and bolts popping as it went on. They were unsure whether to stay or run. It could have been a bluff. But, it sounded so clear and sick.

"**LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!**" The monster wailed. Between every plea, there was another crunching noise against the wall. It sounded like a bag of jam and glass being slammed into a slab of concrete.

Zelos was ready to bolt. "Okay, no more talking. Let's get the hunnies and get out of here!"

_**BANG!! **_"**LET ME OUT!**"

Lloyd was hesitant. "We've got to kill it before it gets out of here! I'm not letting more people die!"

"What, do you have a couple hundred pounds of dynamite on you or something?" Zelos snarled. "We won't stand a chance!"

There was a new horrifying noise added to the din. It was like the pealing sound of chicken extremities being pulled from its roasted corpse. It started soft with the sound of sinew snapping, then cracked like joints being yanked apart. The flower-like growths snapped, wilting out of their niches. A purplish red liquid gushed out after the growths were gone. It was like the walls were bleeding.

"**Why did you come, Lloyd Irving? WHY?**" The monster screamed at the young boy. It didn't allow him to answer. "**Did you want to save them all, Lloyd Irving? Did you want to be the hero again?**" It hissed like a volcano about to explode. "**Then you can have him, bub! He's of no more use to me!**"

The room detonated in a mass of red gelatin and decaying matter.

* * *

Author's Note

It's midterms now. Here's a chapter. Enjoy!

True story—I actually had a nightmare about a bleeding wall. Let's say it served as a little bit of inspiration. Oddly enough, it required a pass-code, to which the correct answer was . . .rhubarb. Go figure. I guess I'm a subconscious Portal fan.

Anyway. If you got to this point, leave me a note. I like knowing that you finished your chapter before hopping onto something else. Here's hoping your next story isn't too OoC.


	7. Chromatic Melancholy

**Chapter Seven: Chromatic Melancholy  
**

"There's nothing here, is there?"

Colette's question broke the permeating silence in the president's office. The two had little to talk about before, both disgusted and frightened by the look of the upper floors. The windows were smeared with a ruddy glaze, like bloody snot. The elevator shafts were thick with it too—some of it was now on their clothes. There were no signs of activity otherwise. It used to be so clean, papers stacked neatly on the edge of the desk and books piled and placed in proper order. It looked like the aftermath of a grungy, shaken snow globe.

"Nope," Sheena agreed. She flipped open the top drawer on the president's desk. There were common little supplies, pens and paper pads all in their proper places. She shut it, and went to the next drawer. Bingo. She picked up an older book, the cover stylized in Mizuho font. It was about time she got this back to her village—that stupid shopkeeper almost cost them their security. Not that she didn't trust Regal, but she'd rather keep Mizuho's code confidential. She shoved the small book into a pocket in her robe and hopped off the desk.

Colette sighed, and then crossed her arms. "I hope Lloyd and Zelos didn't find anything, either."

Sheena chuckled. "Well, we've got to figure out what happened. It's not like we can come away empty handed."

"I know," Colette agreed, "But I just don't want them to get into trou—"

**Kkkrrruuuumptth!**

The foundation of the business office shuddered. A green lamp on the desk fell off and shattered. Both girls glanced at the elevator shaft, wondering what was going on. A heavy scraping noise moved swiftly down at the bottom. The grating sound shrieked on metallic surfaces. It sounded like it was moving towards them. A blip of darkness ebbed at the bottom of the shaft, moving like a nightmare on amphetamines.

"Hide!" Sheena hissed at the blonde. She dove towards a nearby bookcase, crouching down between the corner and the opening. The ninja shoved a fake potted plant next to the blonde, and then dropped to her knees. She rolled under a nearby sofa, pulling herself up into the springs. She waited as the sound rolled upwards, changing tone as it hit tiled floor.

Then it began to move away.

Sheena was unwilling to move for a few more seconds. A splashing noise rang from the lobby as something thick hit the surface of the watery track. It sounded like tons of potatoes being dumped off a ship. Waves echoed for a few more moments, and then it was silent. She let go of the couch's coils, but didn't move from beneath it. She had to give it a few more minutes. It could be a trap.

After a few moments, Colette peeked out from behind the plant. "Is it okay?"

"Probably not," Sheena remained pessimistic. She sighed, and decided to go against her instincts. "Let's go."

The ninja tumbled out from beneath the couch, dusting the lint off of her shirt. Colette moved out of her hiding place, but not before tripping over the plant. It crashed to the ground, ceramic pot shattering into hundreds of smooth, white pieces. She fretted, pushing the plant up against the wall and trying to mound dirt around it as best as she could. Despite the nerve-wracking situation, Sheena had to laugh a little.

"Don't worry about it. This place could afford a few more plants," the ninja helped the blonde get back on track.

Colette nodded, "I know. It's just not right."

The ninja couldn't believe how Colette's perspective could be so thrown off. "We've got a bunch of people missing, and you're worried about a potted plant."

"It's a living thing, too," Colette argued.

"Whatever," Sheena decided to drop the subject. "We should go make sure that idiot and Lloyd are okay."

The blonde girl finally agreed with her. She took the first peek down the elevator shaft. After not seeing anything, she hopped into it. With a quick flash of pink mana, bright wings shot out of her back. She descended to the lobby, and then glanced back up towards the ninja. "All clear so far!"

The ninja smacked her palm onto her face. Colette didn't have the same refinement or sense of stealth as she did. The ninja gathered her strength, and then jumped into the elevator shaft. She caught onto the slick cable in the center and eased herself down. It was an faster trip down than it was up. She slid to Colette's level, and then grabbed tighter on the cable. The lobby was still in the same mess as it was before, so she saw no need to stay there very long.

"Okay. I'm going down," Sheena said. She slackened her hold, travelling all the way down to the end of the cable. It ended in a frayed mess a few feet above the elevator car itself. The car was compressed like a crushed sardine tin. Fresh slime coated the top, a couple of centimeters thick and black like blood pudding. She jumped onto it, nearly slipping from the ooze.

Colette hopped down next to her, brilliant wings disappearing as she landed just beyond the destroyed car. Older carpet was streaked with the mess, covering the entire hallways and even clambering up the sides of the walls. It smelt awful, like copper and rotting flesh. She nearly gagged on the scent, but buried her nose in her hands. The electric smell of fresh mana from her body kept her from smelling that stench.

Sheena wrinkled her nose at the scene. "Oh, geez."

"Lloyd? Zelos?" Colette called through her hands. She waited for a few seconds, and then sighed. "I can't hear them."

"Well, I bet I know where we'll find them," Sheena grimaced. She took lead, footsteps slow but sure. She hugged the corner of the hall, signaling for Colette to follow her. The blonde tried to hide in a similar way, but she wasn't nearly as coordinated as Sheena. As she followed her around the corner, she slipped on the ooze and crashed on the ground.

The ninja winced but then helped the blonde back up. They continued to follow the dark smears, ignoring the clean hallways that they crossed. The basement of the Lezareno Company was more of a labyrinth than the ninja expected. If it wasn't for the mess along the way, she could have gotten lost. She hated to think of the gore as a trail-marker, but she was trained to take any clues she could get and use them for her advantage.

The gross trail blew out of proportion as they rounded one final passage. Something blasted its way out of a smaller room, blood and grime radiating out in a bursting pattern. It was like the room was disemboweled. Flower-like growths that dangled out of ducts in the ceiling were crumpled, crusted and choked with slime. A metallic door lay in huge chunks on the floor, split by some impressive force. It was impossible to guess what the room used to be. It was like the desecrated birthplace of a demon.

Colette's breath caught. "Wha—what happened?"

Sheena shook her head. "It must have been here. Oh my go—"

A gentle thump caught her off guard. One of the pieces of the door moved upwards. Colette jumped backwards, preparing to bolt. The ninja drew her seals, hoping it wasn't a monster. The door flew to the left, and a gore-drenched redhead stood up. He gasped for breath, coughing from the horrible smell. It was all he could do to get his face clean.

"My hunnies. Excellent timing," Zelos coughed. "You would not believe what happened."

Sheena lowered her eyebrows, "I hate to admit this, but I'm willing to give it a shot."

Colette interrupted, "Wait! Where's Lloyd!"

There was a muffled sound, and then another chunk of door was tossed aside. Lloyd cleared his lungs, and then shook off his shock. Colette helped him, grabbing him by the shoulders and hefting him up. She hugged him, glad to see him alive. After all the mess, it was comforting to be with her best friend again.

"What was that about?" Lloyd rubbed his head. "Ugh, I feel like the Professor just destroyed my skull."

Zelos rattled off information as fast as he could. "The monster was here. It wasn't making a lot of sense, but it said something about looking for exspheres. Somebody told him to come here—probably Hilda, if she's still alive. It killed a lot of people, but it was talking about somebody not dying." He took a quick gulp of air, "It was sick, and then it wasn't sick, and then. . .well, wham!"

Sheena was disgusted. "You've got to be kidding me! That monster was here?"

"Well, kind of. Seems like it can split itself up into—" Zelos began, but he stopped himself. "It knew Lloyd. Kept calling him by his full name."

"Ooh! Sounds terrifying!" Colette shuddered. "Did you meet it before?"

Lloyd shook his head. "I think I would have remembered something like that."

"No crap," Zelos spat. He started pacing around the outside of the door, "Can't believe it didn't try to kill us again. What is up with that thing? Must really have been sick."

Colette interjected, "The room's glowing."

Zelos rambled on. "Said something about a burning exsphere. I wonder what that's all about."

Sheena thumped Zelos in the chest, "Shut up! What is that?"

The redhead caught onto what both girls saw. Peeking into the smaller room behind them, they saw little flares of light. It looked like tiny will o' the wisps, all glowing pastel colors. The faint embers illuminated a scene of horror. Strands like pumpkin guts hung from the ceiling in thick, garnet clusters. They were all severed at random intervals, torn away by a huge force. The lights beamed from inside these strands, giving them an eerie transparency. For a rare moment, the redhead was completely silent.

"Exspheres," Lloyd murmured. He was the first to step inside the room, going towards the nearest light. His fingers dug into the sinews and popped out a stone like a pearl from a mollusk. It was hot with energy at first, but it dissipated and froze in his hand. He sighed, then crushed the stone. It was one less exsphere he had to find.

Reluctantly, the others followed him in. Zelos swatted the strands away from his face, getting slimed in the process. It smelt the worst in here. That beast had sat here for days, rotting people into goo and devouring them. A small bone dangled nearby, something dainty like a bone from a pinky. He gritted his teeth as his stomach churned, appalled by the scene. How many had died and festered here?

"Kyaa!"

Colette's shriek sent everyone on edge. They all snapped their gaze to the blonde's form, her hands covering her mouth in shock. There was a series of growths in a corner towards the back, lancing around a solitary trunk like stalks of celery. Unlike the rest of the tissue, it was solid and spongy. It was more like cartilage than flesh. A light burned from inside the mass, a solitary flare of color glowing like embers. Zelos pushed his way towards the structure, trying to figure out what it was.

It wasn't entirely encompassing. The growths relaxed in places, thinning out and revealing tatters of cloth. Tufts of hair peaked out of some of these thinner parts. Zelos hesitated for a second, and then reached out. The hair looked black in the faint light. He pressed his fingers together and stripped the slime away. There was a jolt in his heart and gut as a horrifying conclusion sank into his brain.

Lloyd winced, struggling to form his thoughts, "Oh. . .my god."

The strands went from black to blue.

* * *

For the first time in her life, Princess Hilda was considering what it was like to die.

The monster had let her go from its body, at least for the time being. It hadn't left her alone—it just wanted her out for a little while. It had mentioned something about a brother, but she didn't quite understand what that meant. Maybe it was talking about that part of its body that left a few days ago. Her memories were starting to run together. She just didn't care anymore. She felt ill.

The princess wondered why she was feeling so terrible. Her best guess was dehydration. Most of her time lately was spent in suspended animation and trapped in the still-forming body of the monster. It hadn't changed all that much lately. Sometimes, it would strike out at rats and devour them, but it didn't want to move. It was like a reptile waiting to shed, slow and silent.

"Are you sick?" the princess gathered enough courage to talk with the blob.

The monster made an oozing sound, almost like a sigh. "**Musst wait. Brother isss coming.**" It almost sounded like it was missing its other half. "**Brother sssssaid . . . they appeared . . .wasssn't enough time.**"

Hilda lifted her head for a moment. "Who?"

"**Zelossss. . .**" The monster hissed with a new animosity. "**Brother had to leave one . . .made him sick. Brother woulddd have killed him. The exsssphere. . . did not want my brother. Wanted. . .his warmth. Wanted human flesssh to itssself . . .wanted itsss massster.**"

In her delusional state, it was hard for her to know what that meant. She tried keeping it talking, though. If she could talk, she could stay awake. "So Zelos is still alive, then. That's good."

The monster felt otherwise. "**I will enjoy hisss death . . .the mossst.**"

There was a rumbling down the corridors of the sewers. Rats and other vermin fled in its wake, screeching with terror. Hilda climbed to her feet, bracing herself against the walls. She saw a dark mass approaching the lips of the tunnel she was in, like a giant bag of garbage rolling endlessly. A shiver of panic travelled up her arms. That was it.

"**My brother . . .**" The monster was elated to see the secondary blob approach. "**My brother! We shall feasssst!**"

It oozed down the paths, sliming everything in its wake. Her breath caught as it melted with its brother, two shades of scarlet folding into one. The second monster looked sick, severed veins and bones sticking awkwardly out of its body. As it combined with the larger monster, the diseased parts faded from sight. The overall membrane color lightened as the mass converged with bubbling splatters. It was all she could do not to pass out.

The monster oozed back to her, its still-forming spine and ribs still visible but now coated in slime. "**Thissss . . .isss better. Such new flesssssh.**"

Hilda's could only gasp. "What did you do?"

"**Few exspheressss. . .but such power . . .**" It almost sounded like it was consoling itself. "**He made my brother sssssssssick! But. . .we are myself . . .and we will . . .heal. Anddd devour. . .**" The monster's final words dragged out, almost like it was enjoyed the sound of its own ideas. "**Andd . . .kill!**"

Her knees went weak. It was too much to bear now. She collapsed on her hands, the back of her mouth aching like she was going to heave. Her dehydration was starting to get to her again. She felt so powerless, a sensation that was foreign and terrifying. It didn't matter if she lived or died anymore. It wouldn't care. It just wanted information from her. She wasn't much better than a tool. The thought made her want to die. She didn't want to be conscious anymore.

As her mind went again, all she could wonder was how much blood made that creature so red.

* * *

The air was so cold. It felt wonderful, something fresh and new that he hadn't sensed in some time. He breathed in through his nose, the chilled air leaving a sharp tingle in his sinuses. His skin prickled, his entire body shivering. It didn't feel like the frosty atmosphere in Flanoir, but it wasn't smothering like it used to be. He wasn't used to this climate. He felt like he was waking up in a tub of cold slime.

"—ute! We're just about—"

Speech. He opened his eyes, glancing upwards. Everything was clouded in a hazy fog. It was like the membranes in his eyes were covered with pond scum. Someone's form shifted further away, approaching like a white blur. He blinked, and the image started to resolve. He couldn't tell definite facial features, but he could make out blonde hair and blue eyes. He sighed in relief. It was Colette.

The blonde seemed as confused as he was. "Guys, I. . .he's up." Her voice wavered in and out of clarity, but he caught most of what she said. She waved a hand in front of his face, smiling as his eyes followed it. She nodded, clapping her hands. "He's okay!"

"Well, that's. . .ess problem. Thought we'd. . .mp his ass in Flano. . ." A crass response came from a distance. There was the sound of engines churning and water rushing. It was a familiar drumming. His stomach rolled, although he didn't succumb completely to seasickness. It felt like he was inside an elemental cargo. He couldn't remember the last time he'd rode in one of these.

He had to figure out what was going on. Propping himself up on one elbow, he asked, "Where—"

"It's okay, Reg. . ." Colette shushed him. She pushed him back down. "Don't move so. . .oyd said you have a mana . . .so it's going to be a little painful."

This was starting to get irritating. Regal tried focusing again, asking the blonde, "I'm sorry. . . What was that?"

"A mana burn. It's what happens when your exsphere . . .that's what Lloyd said, anyway," Colette was happy to repeat herself. She came across much clearer. "Zelos thinks that monster was using you to . . .you should have died."

Those last words struck him like a blow to the head. Memories rushed back in a sudden deluge. Images of his coworkers and employees rotting in red fluid flushed through his mind. He remembered their flesh disintegrating, pale bone exposed beneath weak skin. He clenched his jaw, trying not to shake. They were all dead, and he should have been too. Zelos was right.

"Ah, geez, Colette." Zelos hissed from the front of the vehicle. He climbed over his seat and plopped next to her. "Look, I didn't mean it like that. You wouldn't believe the last couple of days . . .attacked at the princess's . . .and then I was arrested. . .and—aggh, man, I'm sorry."

Regal nodded after a few moments. "It's okay." He took a breath, and then sighed. "I should be dead. It is fine to be honest."

Zelos half-smirked, a dry expression hidden behind his smile. He bowed his head, suddenly darker than his normal self. "Truth to be told, you're probably the only person I've managed to save this week." He snapped out of his spell and brightened up, "Well, you and Sheena, of course. She just gets weak in the ankles every time she sees me."

"Oh, hell no! Lloyd, drive!" Sheena leapt out of the driver's seat. She elbowed Zelos in the back, dropping him to the floor. Leaning over his back, she proceeded to tell her point of view. "If it wasn't for me, this idiot would be rotting in a jail cell right now! If anything, he owes me!"

"Do you see what thanks I get?" Zelos muttered under the weight of her body. "Oh, well. Actually, your elbows feel pretty good there, Sheena. I could use a back massage." She rolled her eyes, and then hit him in the spine. He collapsed like a cheap card table. She had enough of his antics for the time being.

Before hopping back up to the driver seat, she smiled and shook her head. "Just ignore him. Glad to see you're okay."

Regal lowered his head, murmuring, "Thank you. I am also relieved to see that you are well."

"Boy, got your tongue back fast enough," Zelos muttered. He spent a moment studying Sheena's hips as she sat back down, and then turned his attention back. "Tell you what, though. We could use your help, once you're up to it. It's getting kind of hairy around here. The only sleep I've gotten lately is when that damn monster knocks me out. I'm starting to get bags under my eyes!"

Colette giggled, "Not to mention that big black eye."

Zelos's expression flattened. "I'm working on patching it up, okay? I don't make fun of your chest; you don't make fun of my face."

"Zelos!" Lloyd reprimanded the redhead from the front seat. He gave up the controls to Sheena and leapt into the cargo area. "Knock it off, or I'll knock you out."

The redhead pulled a face. "Geez, haven't had a threat like that in a while."

Lloyd shrugged, "I'm just saying." He crossed his arms and smiled, "Anyway, Meltokio's coming up. We're going to go see the king, right?"

"Yeah. Should talk to him about getting this dumb thing off my arm," Zelos flicked at a metal band on his arm. "It's starting to tingle a little bit."

Sheena swore from the front seat, "Dammit! We're late! It's starting to go off!"

The redhead didn't like the sound of that. He rushed back into the front seat, "Wait, what do you mean, 'It's starting to go off?' What's the problem?" He wobbled to the front seat, clinging onto his left arm. "Is there something you need to—aggh!" He clenched his teeth, hissing, "What the hell? That's not norm—ow ow ow!"

The squabbling in the front seats began to blur into a mass of panicked noises. Regal's brain began throbbing again. The pain concentrated at the front of his skull, meshing images into one singular fuzzy picture. He knew what this feeling was. With the concussions and bodily harm he'd encountered over the years, he knew when his mind was about to give out. It wasn't right. He wanted to keep awake. He was no good to his friends like this.

"Geez, not now." Lloyd touched his forehead and cringed. "He doesn't . . .so good. Regal? Are you. . ."

"It's alright, Lloyd," Regal found enough control left in his lips. "It will be fine."

Colette wasn't convinced. "His bre. . .talking shorter. He's not . . .pupils."

There was a surge of energy in his right hand. Lloyd clenched onto his fingers, hissing through his teeth, "Don't do thi . . .to Zelos's house . . .and Colette said . . ."

A shriek of pain broke through the din. It was Zelos. Regal tried sitting up again, his mind swirling in fear. What was going on? Lloyd forced him back down, snapping something at the front seat. It was gone in a wash of noise. There was some noise like electricity crackling, and Zelos cried out again. He kept a tight grip on his arm, trying to pull away at the metal band. It wouldn't budge, blue lightning zapping his fingertips. Regal knew he could just snap it off, if he could just—

A pulse rocked his brain, sending his sight reeling again. Colette's hands clasped over Lloyd's, but he didn't feel the additional pressure from her grasp. "We'll find . . .n't be too far away. . .just hold. . .I'll watch over. . ."

Regal didn't know what to say. The color drained from his vision. His mind rumbled, flashing back to an image of a dark emerald forest and young people circling his body like confused lions. The leaves were so beautiful that afternoon. They had watched him pass out before. It would be okay. He forced himself to say something. He couldn't let them worry.

"It's okay," was the extent of what he could manage. He felt the power leaving his throat as he kept murmuring, "Just. . .just . . .help . . .Zel . ."

That forest always was so beautiful and green.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

I think I re-wrote this chapter three times. Sorry about that—I was really struggling. Everything I was writing came off a little sicker than I like to go with stories. There's only so much information you can really get into before it becomes a gore-fest. Really, I'm not writing to make you guys hurl your guts. And then, I didn't think the ending was intense enough! Geez! I just want to scare you guys is all.

Got the Tales of Symphonia sequel. Having a good time, although I will stand by my previous statement to my roommate—Seafood Gels are weird, and no amount of cocktail sauce would make that right. I don't care. I'm also laughing my ass off at all the people complaining about Kratos being gone from the game. I mean, think about it. He blasted himself off into outer space. That's kind of a hard one to undo. It's not like these people live in the Lylat System.

Err, I mean, of course he'll be back. And he'll marry Raine. And they'll be vampire lovers with beautiful children and ride off into the sunset on white horses. Yeah. Sure.

I'm going to get flamed for that one. Oh, boy. Well, leave me a message.


	8. Faded Starlight

**Chapter Eight: Faded Starlight**

He wasn't going to make it.

He'd managed to stumble onto the beach, the Elemental Cargo just barely touching the shore before he'd thrown himself off it. Meltokio was little more than a few meters away. All he had to do was walk. Left foot, right foot. He chanted it in his head, hoping it would help him press on. The device on his arm sparked and clenched, feeling like an electric heart attack was going through his body. It would kill him before he reached the gates, he knew it. What was it doing?

Zelos stumbled, his pants stained by mud smeared in the road. He clenched into it with his right hand, hoping he could stabilize and pull himself up. It was no good. He bit his tongue, blood now leaving coppery streaks of taste in his mouth. He thought about getting his sword and just lopping the damn arm off. How else could he—

Someone grabbed him by his left shoulder, yanking him upwards. She hissed, "Get in there!" With a burst of energy, his rescuer raced towards the gates, half-dragging Zelos's body behind her. He picked up, both legs hitting the ground harder than he'd imagined they would. The world went by like racing fireflies.

And then the pain stopped.

The redhead collapsed again, surprised to find himself on pavement. He'd made it into Meltokio. Collecting himself, he check out the armband that was previously trying to kill him. It had gone quiet, still hot with energy, but otherwise dead. The tissue around the device was burned. He winced at the sight.

"Come on. Just heal yourself," Sheena growled.

Zelos made a face. "I just had a life and death experience here. Give me a break!" He concentrated on the wound and was surprised to find he could still heal it. Green and blue mana flowed around the burn, sealing the damage and numbing the pain. It still hurt a little bit, but it wasn't going to kill him.

Lloyd and Colette finally caught up to the ninja and the redhead. The blonde had Regal's body slumped onto her left shoulder. They were surprised to find that Zelos was still alive, after the racket he'd made in the ship. Lloyd asked, "What was that about?"

Sheena struggled to explain. "That thing on Zelos's arm is . . .is kind of like a shock collar. The king's been using them lately in order to force probation. Anyone outside of Meltokio after sunset will be . . .well, you saw what happened."

Zelos sniffled, more out of anger than pain. "Would have been good to know."

"I thought he told you!" Sheena seemed as surprised as Zelos was.

Zelos became indignant. "No. He was all like, 'Stay in Meltokio, Zelos' and then you were all like, 'Hey, the king said we could leave Meltokio during daytime' and I thought I wasn't going to be electrocuted today!" He puffed a red bang out of his face. "Who the hell would develop something like that, anyway?"

Sheena yanked Zelos up by his injured arm. Ignoring the three-ringed seal on the front, she flipped the band around and found a small insignia on the back. "Lezareno, apparently."

There was a beat in time. Zelos inhaled from his nose, and then he shot Colette's shoulder a dirty look. "What the hell kind of company does he run?"

"We've got other things to focus on right now," Lloyd deterred Zelos from his plans. "That monster thing could be anywhere. We've got to warn the king about it."

The redhead sighed, but agreed. "Fine." He dug into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He tossed them to Colette, who managed to catch them after fumbling them once. "Go to my house. Take care of that idiot." He readdressed the ninja and the swordsman. "You two are coming with me to give the king an earful. If he's going to be telling me what to do, he could at least tell me why I'm doing it. Not a big fan of the surprise deaths."

Lloyd's face paled. "I really hate talking to authority figures. I always end up pissing them off."

"That's what I'm counting on!" Zelos beamed. "You two are like my little defense attorneys, you know that?"

Sheena's expression soured. "You're going to end up in a jail cell by the end of the night. You know that, right? Maybe you should cool it."

"No way in hell," Zelos wasn't very good at taking his attorney's advice.

The group marched up the middle of Meltokio, not doing very good with blending in. People shuddered as they went by. Colette broke from the formation, embarrassed and wanting to get to Zelos's house as fast as possible. It wasn't like she wasn't used to the attention, but it was unnerving. Sheena wished she could break away, too. She knew that dumb redhead was just going to end up sticking his foot in his mouth. Lloyd seemed oblivious of the stares around him. He would make the worst ninja ever.

The meager amount of guards in front of the castle were surprised to see the Chosen and his entourage approaching. They crossed their weapons, but it was more for show than anything. The redhead beamed, sending a chill through the guards. They had heard stories from former papal knights and guards about his wrath. He'd never attacked anyone who didn't attack him first, but the stories of his cocky nature in battle were enough to keep them on their toes. It wasn't that he was just arrogant—he was good.

"Hello, boys," Zelos smirked. "I'd like to see the king. We need to talk."

The guard to the right spoke flatly. "Your request will most likely be denied. The king has been apprehensive of letting visitors come in during the nights even since—"

"I know, I know." Zelos lowered his voice. "Listen. I'll be a nice boy if you just let me in. Nobody will get hurt. But if we don't talk, there's going to be a lot of people that might get hurt." He paused, and then smiled. "You might be the first."

Lloyd and Sheena were shocked by the redhead's audacity. The boy slapped his forehead. He was going to be stupid, and they were all going to end up in jail. Sheena took control of the situation, shoving Zelos back. "We just need to make a quick report. We discovered another attacked area."

The left guard was willing to comply with her. "Of course. His highness's first concern is protecting the Tethe'allan territories. We'll escort you."

As the doors opened, the guards flanked the small group and ushered them in. The king was already dealing with other people, all of them observing an intricate map. It looked like a bunch of thick tubes. He paused to observe the trio enter, but didn't berate his soldiers for letting them in. He waved a hand, summoning the group forward.

"I hope you have uncovered something on your travels," The king kept his tone even.

Zelos half-smiled, but the expression died halfway through. "Altamira was attacked."

The anger in him melted away as he watched the king's face morph with horror. It was no longer about just finding his little girl anymore.

* * *

She sat in silence next to the bathtub. Its cold porcelain features brushed the back of her neck where her hair didn't cover it. She felt otherwise detached from her body. It was a strange sort of feeling—it was something like fear, but it didn't rage through her limbs and veins. She knew she wasn't in immediate danger, but she couldn't shake her apprehension. That thing—that monster—it was in Meltokio. It could attack at any moment. She felt like she was being pursued by thousands of Sheena's clan, all hiding in the enveloping darkness of the town. It wasn't night yet. But, the red sky was dying, and soon it would give way to bleak night.

Colette wasn't sure what exactly to do with Regal's body. She figured Zelos would have had a fit if she left him on the furniture downstairs. He was still soaked with ruddy slime, and even though it was drying up, it would still leave stains. So she did the only logical thing. Well, as far as Colette's logic went. She dropped him in the bathtub.

And that's where she waited for the past half an hour, hoping that the redhead, the ninja, and Lloyd would return soon. Most of her time had been spent in a half-panicked, half-dozing state. She was not a medic. She didn't have healing arts. She had no way to help Regal, other than to sit and keep vigil. Now she knew how Raine felt when they started their journey so long ago, being unable to keep anyone from teetering over the event horizon of death. It was horrible.

**Slam!**

Colette jumped up, unsure of what it was. There was a call in the distance, and her heart settled. The others had returned. "Oh, hunnies! I'm home!" There was another solid thud, and Zelos yelped. "Easy on the skull, Sheena! I've got important facts and memories and stuff stored up in here."

"I really doubt that," Sheena hissed. She called up the stairs, "Colette? Are you here!"

The blonde peeked her head out of a door towards the west wing. She waved, "Hi, Sheena! Glad to see you guys are back. How did your meeting with the king go?"

Sheena smirked and went over to brief the blonde. "Well, not too great. We'll talk about it over supper." She shot Zelos a dirty look, implying an array of instructions.

The redhead shot his hands up. "Fine. Looks like dinner's on me. Don't mind that I was almost electrocuted to death." He turned around and grabbed Lloyd by his shoulder. "Come on, buddy. Let's go do manly things in the kitchen."

Lloyd screwed up his face. "Aah. . .I don't like the sound of this."

Zelos dragged him into the kitchen, leaving Colette and Sheena alone in the hallway. There was a strange amount of silence. There were a lot of things the two girls wanted to talk about—it had been forever since they had just chatted about anything. It didn't seem like the time. Colette fidgeted and looked down. She thought this feeling would go away when they came back.

"Do you think it knows where we are? The monster, I mean," Colette finally broke the silence.

Sheena lifted an eyebrow. "It's possible. It's never attacked us when we're here, though. Usually, it attacks large crowds of people. More. . .targets, I guess. It mostly attacks at night, too."

Colette's expression fell. "Ooh." She gave a nervous glance into the bathroom, then back at Sheena. "I. . .guess it makes sense."

The ninja's face smoothed, hiding her concern. She didn't like it when the blonde was down. Her cheery attitude, while sometimes obnoxious, did a lot to fuel the party. Seeing her like this was disturbing. It only reminded her of the times where the girl had hidden her feelings and health from the party in order to push them along, often times harming herself in the process. She wasn't going to let that happen again.

"Tell me what's wrong," Sheena lowered her voice.

Colette's eyes darted down the hall, looking for Lloyd and Zelos. They were both out of sight. She sighed, and then signaled for Sheena to follow her into the bathroom. Both slipped inside, closing the door softly behind them. Colette sighed, and then prepared to spill her guts.

"I'm scared, Sheena," Colette admitted. She fumbled with her clothing, kneading white fabric between her fingers.

Sheena wanted to laugh, but she kept quiet. "We all are. That's nothing to be embarrassed about."

Colette nodded. "I know. But, I don't know how you can stand it. All I can think about is Presea and Zelos's sister and the Sages and my grandma and—"

"I get it, Colette," Sheena cut the girl's rambling short. She crossed her arms and leaned back on the sink. She studied the form in the bathtub, troubled but not knowing what to say. Her eyes moved down to the fuzzy rugs on the floor. She dug her toes into the plushy material. "Guess I just try not to think about it."

Colette clenched her jaw. She found it hard to speak, "I can't."

The ninja looked back at the blonde. Her eyes were glassy, but no tears spilled over. It was the look of someone who was used to holding her sorrow back. Sheena couldn't maintain eye-contact. That expression was just too much. She dropped her head back towards the floor again.

"I know I told Regal I'd stay here and watch him. But I start thinking about other people, and I. . ." Colette rolled her hands into fists. She took a moment to breath, and then continued on. "I don't know. I want to make sure he gets better. But, maybe that's not the right thing to do."

Sheena started piecing together Colette's problem. "Don't worry about him. I know he wouldn't want you babysitting him if you could save someone else's life." She spoke very softly, "What are you going to do?"

Colette blurted it out. "I'm going to go find Presea. Tonight. Alone."

"Do you have a death wish or something?" Sheena hissed. "If that thing—that monster catches up with you—"

"I know! I know! But I can't just let her be out there without knowing what's happening," Colette refuted. "I can fly faster than any of us could walk. It'd be really easy to find her. I'd just have to visit all of the town's inns. And we've been to a couple of places already!"

Sheena felt her stomach roll. "Colette, I just don't know."

"And I know being alone is probably a bad idea, but you said that monster only attacks groups of people! I could get away from it easily!" Colette continued arguing her point. "And we could use the help, too! Then we could go looking for the Professor and Genis!"

"Y-you're going a little overboard," Sheena scratched the back of her head. "Are you sure you can do this all on your own?"

Colette pumped her fists in the air. "If I can find just one person, they could help me out. And I can't just let them be out there, not knowing what's happening. I mean. . ." She trailed off and gave Regal a glance. "I don't. . .I can't . . .I couldn't. . ."

Sheena grabbed Colette by the shoulders and turned her around. She was considering whether or not she should slap her in the face. With a deep sigh, she gave up. "Fine. But at least eat supper before you go out."

"Okay. I can do that," Colette smiled. She grabbed Sheena's hands from her shoulders and shook them. "Thank you. I know you guys will take good care of everything."

The ninja blushed. "Come on. Let's go help those idiots in the kitchen."

Sheena left the bathroom first, a wave of dread coursing through her skin. This wasn't going to go over well with the guys, but she would try her best argument. Colette would probably do better on her own, with all that compassion and concern she'd mustered in the bathroom. She was definitely more of a Chosen than Zelos would ever be.

As they approached the kitchen, a noise shattered their concentration. There was a knock on the door. It wasn't a panicked knock, but it wasn't polite either. Someone was furious. Sheena thought about turning around and ignoring it when the redhead burst out of the kitchen. He gave the door a curious look, and then glanced back at the ninja.

"Did you invite somebody over?" Zelos asked.

Sheena rolled her eyes. "It's your house. Why would I do that without your permission?"

"Hey, I was just curious," The redhead threw his hands in the air. "I'll take care of it. You two go help Lloyd out before he burns dinner."

Sheena was not amused with the kitchen demand, but Colette was happy enough to follow his suggestion. Deciding not to argue about this, she pushed past the redhead and inside the next room. Zelos sighed, glad he dodged that bullet. Now he had to deal with the annoying visitor. Half-jogging towards the door, he hoped it wouldn't be anything too serious. He couldn't deal with any more problems right now.

"Okay. Hold on," Zelos peeked through the keyhole. It was too blurry to see through, but nothing looked threatening. In fact, the visitors looked very familiar. There was a very tall, dark shadow behind a shorter girl in a brightly colored dress. His heart dropped for a moment, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was. Sighing, he turned the latch on his door and yanked it back.

His optimism sank like a rock as his visitor chastised him. "Big brother, what in Martel's name is going on? Why does everyone in town say you're on probation? And why does it smell like something is burning?"

All the redhead could do was sigh. "Couldn't have picked a worse time, sis."

* * *

**Author's Note****:**

Sorry for the obscene gap in time and shortness in length. I had to finish Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and mentally digest what I experienced. For the most part, I'd say I had fun. It was a blast, especially since I was always playing with another person (my roommate). I liked how the story progressed in most cases, and it did a good job at being suspenseful.

Having said that, Emil was a pain in the ass and I enjoyed every time he got owned in the face.

In fact, I hate him so much that I'm tempted to write a fanfic where he gets randomly killed, and the plot goes to hell in a hand basket. This is one of the first times I've considering doing something like this. I tend not to try and write "fix" fics or get too many good OC characters involved in a story. Self-inserts are definitely out, unless I'm parodying myself (and yes, I've done that.) You can read that somewhere else. But I would have no qualms about reading about Emil's demise over and over again. I hate that little pansy.

And yes, I enjoyed the "bad" ending the best.


	9. Time of Departure

**Chapter Nine: Time of Departure**

This was one of the most awkward dinners in Lloyd Irving's life. It didn't help that he'd charred the pork cutlets, but that was fixable. He could cut away the burned parts. Hell, throw on a couple of vegetables, and no one would know the difference. There was little he could do to remedy the moods of the people now sitting around the table. Sheena was withdrawn, and Colette seemed so sullen. Seles wasn't much better, confused and frustrated with what little news she'd heard about her brother's antics over the past few days. Zelos was the biggest pain in the ass, though. It was clear that he was not happy to see his sister again. Of course, it didn't help that Tokunaga had decided to eat with Sebastian in the servants' quarters. There was nobody to help smooth out their turmoil. It was cold, open warfare.

"So," Seles began, a cold ring in her tone. "When were you planning on telling me about this—what kind of monster is it?"

Zelos grumbled, still gnawing as he spoke. "Blobby. Made of exspheres and bones. Eats people."

His sister tapped her fork on her plate. "Right." She looked towards Sheena, "I hope you have something a little more elegant to tell me about it."

"It's what he says," Sheena signed. "We don't have a name for it. I've seen little man-eaters before when we were reuniting the worlds, but I've never encountered something like this."

Colette jumped into the conversation. "I like Blobby. Blobby's a good name for it."

Lloyd's face screwed up in embarrassment. "You wouldn't be calling it that if you saw it face-to-face."

"Okay, getting away from the name game for a moment," Seles cut their conversation short. "From what I've heard, it attacked Meltokio and killed quite a few soldiers. It also kidnapped the princess." She tapped one finger to the side of her nose. "Why would it do that, if you say it just likes eating people?"

"It seems to be using her for information," Sheena explained. She nudged the remainder of her cutlet around with her fork, not entirely amused by it. "It's looking for exspheres and. . .well, it's obsessed with finding Presea."

Seles pursed her eyebrows. "That little pink-haired girl? Why?"

Zelos shrugged. He was beginning to lose his appetite, too. "We're not sure. There are a lot of things that just don't add up." His stomach churned, and then he wished he hadn't eaten. What would it do to Presea if it found her? Would it kill her outright? Or, would she be kept alive, preserved like some canned vegetable, her exsphere burning through its. . .

"By the way. Don't go into the west bathroom," Zelos added, shaking off his mental images.

Seles gave him another weird glance. "Just can't stay on the subject, can you, brother?"

"Just. . .just don't," Lloyd agreed. He caught a hollow glimmer of fear in Zelos's expression. It wasn't like Lloyd wasn't used to reading fear in his companions. This look was nothing new. He'd seen it before—terror behind humor, turmoil encompassed by a smile. Even now, the redhead had half a grin on his face, but he was leaning his head on his left hand. He was a man ready to do something stupid. The shock was when he saw the same expression on the other Chosen.

Colette cleared her throat. "What are you all going to do now?"

"Well, we've still got to patrol tonight," Zelos sighed. "Give me a couple of hours of sleep, and I'll be ready to go."

Lloyd nodded, "Sure thing. I'm up for a little monster hunting."

"Now, that's what I like to hear, buddy," Zelos smiled. Lloyd felt a little panicked; the redhead's devious aura remained.

Seles nodded and crossed her arms. "Fine. I can go with you two."

"No, no, no, no, no. You're not going with us," Zelos stressed this to his sister. "I don't care that you've shown up here. I don't know what you think you're going to do to help me. There's no way I'm letting you get close to that thing."

His sister was prepared to rip him a new one when Sheena intervened. "You know, I'm going to be here tonight. I'm sure she can help me with a few things."

Zelos was surprised by this turn of events. "Huh? I thought you were going to come with me. You know, monitor the parolee and make sure he keeps in line and things like that." He leaned over to look her in the eye. "It's that Lloyd's coming with me, isn't it? It's hard to be intimate with another man around, I know."

A fist flew across the table. Lloyd intercepted it before it struck Zelos in his unblackened eye, catching Sheena's hand in his own. He tried smoothing things over. "You've probably been pretty busy keeping an eye on him. It might not be bad to have a girl's night, you know." He lowered his head slightly. "I can trust you to take care of all of them." His eyes made a quick dart towards the aforementioned bathroom, but said no more about it.

"Great. I get to spend an evening with the tramp and the bubble brain," Seles was not amused.

Colette interrupted, blushing a little bit. "Actually, I was thinking about. . .um . . ." She lost her guile and whispered the last part of the sentence, ". . .going to look for Presea myself."

Everyone but Sheena glared at her like she had suggested something as fun and safe as skydiving nude into the icy seas of Flanoir. Lloyd was the most flabbergasted, not knowing what to say. It had been months since Colette and he had been apart—the hunt for exspheres had bonded them. Zelos was surprised at first, but then smiled again. It was just the kind of foolhardy thing she would try. Seles, on the other hand, went back to her previous state of not caring.

"Ah, Colette? I don't mean to doubt you, but. . ." Lloyd tried to find a delicate way to put this. "That kind of seems. . .I don't know. . .a little bit dangerous?"

Sheena nodded. "She's already talked about it to me. She thinks it's the fastest way to find the Sages, too."

"Man. Okay, I trust you," Lloyd didn't want to give in, but he didn't want to crush her feelings, either. "Do you need some transportation so they can come back with you?"

Colette blushed. "Whoops. I hadn't thought about that."

Everyone's head felt ten times heavier, like it was going to crash into the table at any moment. Zelos whistled in embarrassment, but produced a set of keys from his pocket. Picking at the ring, he handed over the key to the elemental cargo. "I left the wing pack by the door. Take it. But if you ding it, I expect you to get it fixed."

Colette smiled and jumped out of her seat, throwing her arms around the redhead's neck. "Thank you so much! I'll try to be as fast as possible."

"Just don't get yourself hurt, okay?" Zelos tried to hide his reddening face. "Geez, I hate being such a softy."

"Well, that's just great. Go team," Seles interjected. She prodded her food, and then decided to give up and try it. It wasn't all that bad, considering Lloyd had botched it. Everyone fell silent again, finally able to enjoy the meal in peace. The silence was a little awkward, but it was pleasant too. At least they had a plan of attack now.

And Seles had finally shut up too. That was pretty sweet.

* * *

It was nearly ten before Zelos and Lloyd left the upper quarters. The elder of the two managed to sneak in a couple of hours of sleep before they had to go. To be honest, he could have used a few more, but he didn't dare risk any more time. The summer heat was sweeping upwards into the sky, leaving the earth cool. There was a strange, empty feeling that weaved its way through his skin. The ocean didn't smell so salty that night. It felt like a storm was approaching.

"So, do you feel like sharing your master plan yet?" Lloyd asked. He was afraid of the answer.

Zelos smiled. "I bet you can already figure it out."

A cold wave of fear washed over Lloyd. "Oh boy."

"What we've got on our hands is a monster that can't come out when it's too hot and travels by water masses." Zelos started making his observations, ticking his finger off as he made his points. "It's big. Very big. This isn't just something that can hide in an alleyway. It needs a big home, and it's got to be either in or around Meltokio."

Lloyd shook his head and sighed. "The sewers."

"Bingo. You're getting smarter, you know that?" Zelos tousled Lloyd's hair in approval.

The duo meandered through the traffic in the main square. It was much less crowded than the last few nights. People were starting to get the picture. A few bands of younger punks gave the two of them mean glances, but sulked off like wolves. Some were unwilling to just sit and be devoured—vigilante justice was their course. Zelos found their presence comforting, in an odd way. Maybe the town was better defended than he thought.

Lloyd glanced back towards the Martel cathedral. "How long are we going to search?"

"Until daybreak. We're going to cover the main passages. You know, the area I took you guys through," Zelos explained. He flipped a hair out of his face. "It probably won't show up there, so we may have to go to the king later and get a map of the entire system. It's most likely hiding in one of the older, abandoned parts."

Lloyd nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Right. The professor was telling me about them, once. She said that during some of the older wars that people used to hide in there. She also said they used to bury bodies down there."

Zelos made a face of disgust. "Ah, yes. I forget how our lovely, beguiling Raine has a strange fascination with dead things. Kind of unladylike, but that's what I like about her."

"You make her sound like some kind of whacko," Lloyd responded in a flat tone.

They passed by the closed item shop, rounding the corner to a manhole. Without pause, they went up to it and took a look. The cover was gone, and the metallic rim around it was smashed downwards. Parts of the pavement were gone as well, all sunken in. Lloyd pressed a hand against the outer edge, dismayed to feel the brick beneath his hand give way and collapse into the damaged ladders and scaffolding below. That had to be some tremendous force.

Screwing up his courage, Lloyd leapt down into the hole. He caught onto the ladder and climbed a few feet down until the entire thing gave way under his bodyweight. He landed onto the paved walkway below, sprawled out on his chest. He coughed, his breathing out of whack, but he'd managed not to break anything. A flash of orange mana appeared by his side. Zelos's rarely used wings disappeared into the darkness as he returned to his normal form, still unwilling to accept his angelic powers.

"We probably should have gone in through the front door, huh?" Zelos chuckled.

After catching his breath, Lloyd coughed. "Sure. Laugh it up."

The redhead offered the swordsman a hand. Lloyd took it, getting back up onto his feet once more. It was darker than he had anticipated. There were faint lights around the walkway, but it amounted to little more than a string of LEDs. It reminded Lloyd of Mizuho at night, with faint stars lighting the town. He never remembered Iselia or even his father's house being dark as this, even out in the countryside. It was chilling.

Even in the dark, it was obvious where the monster had been. Red ooze stained and dried the walls and walkways, leaving a clear-cut trail. Parts of it disappeared where it hit the running river of sewage, but it popped up again on the opposite bank a few meters down. Zelos smiled to himself. This was too easy. It felt like a trap. And yet, how could he ignore it?

"That's it, isn't it?" Lloyd stated the obvious, a cold overtone cooling his words.

Zelos agreed. "Yep." He drew his sword. "Get ready."

They made their way down the path, careful not to attract too much attention to themselves. Rats noticed them along the way, but they scurried off soon afterwards. The water wasn't at full force, so it was simple enough to cross in parts. Thankfully, most of the paths here remained undamaged, so they could cross without having to get into the sewage too often. Zelos thought about what he would do with his clothes after all of this was over. It was going to take a lot of bleach. Frankly, it would have just been easier to go to a local tailor and have a new outfit made.

Lloyd rubbed his left hand, massaging his exsphere. "It's burning a little bit again."

"Mine too." Zelos nodded. "Must be getting close. Wonder why it does that?"

"Guess they are still alive. Maybe it's a kind of warning?" Lloyd pondered. He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I like to think my mom's still watching out for me."

"Hey, nothing wrong with that. Wish I had a good mom like that." There was an empty look of pain in Zelos's face, but Lloyd said nothing about it. It was better to let that subject go.

The swordsman changed the topic. "I can't believe the princess has been down here for days. I think I'd go crazy."

"Yeah, it's a bit spooky. Perfect place to have some—" The redhead started, but stopped as soon as his idea had formed. He shut his jaw, lips coming to a slow stop against each other. Lloyd was going to ask why he'd stopped talking, but he saw it too. It looked pale, ghastly even in the faint light. Whites, blues, and golden hues glowed in comparison with the dark walls. Beyond the vesper-like figure, the passages wavered and undulated like red gelatin. It sparkled with faint scarlet lights, their power hissing around its moving flesh. The faints of skeletal outlines jutted out from it, a dull taupe against the dark environment.

Zelos addressed the girl in a soft tone, confused about what he was witnessing. "Hilda."

There was the slightest nod of respect, but there was nothing more personal than this. "You know what is going to happen next, do you not?" She seemed to be in a state of shock, responding in a low, almost mechanical voice.

"Your highness, get over here!" Lloyd yelled, hoping to snap her out of it. He withdrew both his swords, raising them in a defensive position. "We'll take care of this! Just go!"

She remained stationary. Zelos hissed through his teeth, but it did little to intimidate the oddly silent monstrosity behind her. He couldn't believe how dulled and empty her gaze looked. She knew who he was and why he was her for her, but she didn't seem to care. It was so off, considering how she wanted to jam her tongue into his mouth just a few days ago. He didn't necessarily want that, either, but he didn't want to be looking at what could be little better than a callous, hollow echo of his princess.

"What are you doing? We're here to save you," Zelos kept his cool, but tried to plead to the girl. "Come with us."

The fleshy substance oozed slowly out from around her, skeletal structure reaching out for the two swordsmen. As it bore down on them, she apologized in that same haunting voice, "I am sorry."

* * *

_Ding. Ding. Ding. Dong._

Sheena's heart jumped in her chest. She sat upright, glancing around for the origin of the sound. A breath of relief went out of her; it was that damn grandfather clock again. That was the third time it had woke her up that night. She shoved her bangs out of her eyes and rubbed them open. Pushing herself off the couch, she went to survey the house again. It was four in the morning.

Going upstairs, she made sure Seles was okay first. While the girl was initially moody with her, she started warming up before she went to bed. They talked about Zelos's antics, for the most part. She had pressed on a long time about how this event went down, but after a while, the girl gave up asking questions. Sheena wasn't sure if it was because the girl didn't think she would get more information or if she was disgusted by the details. They hadn't even begun to talk about what happened today—no, yesterday. Despite the nature of their conversation, the girl was still fast asleep and free of nightmares. Nothing to worry about there.

She turned back downstairs and went to the forbidden bathroom. There was a soft breathing sound, not quite a snore but more audible than a regular breath. Keeping the lights low, she went and checked on Regal's pulse. His skin was cooler than before, his heartbeat stronger. He was overcoming whatever happened on the elemental cargo. She sighed, glad that it was one less thing to worry about. She was feeling a lot less tense, now that she had a proper night of sleep.

Closing the bathroom door, she considered what had to be done tomorrow. Colette would most likely not be back for a while. She would probably be awake for the entire day, alone while the boys slept off their fatigue. Well, maybe she'd get a nap. That sounded kind of nice. She thought about maybe waking Regal up, possibly getting him to clean himself up. He'd probably need new clothes. That might be a hassle. Domestic chores were never her forte. Still, it would be less stressful than the wild hunt they went on yesterday.

"Miss Fujibayashi? May I help you?"

The voice almost startled her. It was just Sebastian. She put a hand to her forehead, relieved. "No. Just doing rounds again. What are you up to?"

The butler confessed, "I have no explanation. I suppose I find it harder to sleep, lately. It's taxing when one's employment rests in the hands of an. . .shall we say, energetic man like Master Zelos." His smile dropped, and he resumed a somber state. "Has he returned yet?"

"No, not yet." Sheena shook her head. "It's still a couple of hours before sunrise."

Sebastian nodded. "I see." He placed a hand over his mouth and yawned. "Pardon me. I appear to be more fatigued than I thought."

"Don't worry about it. I've got everything under control," The ninja gave him a smile. It was nice to talk to somebody like Sebastian every once in a while. He never really got worked up—he was always just a sort of happy neutral.

"Alright. Good night, Miss Fujibayashi," The butler bowed just a little, then turned back to return to his own quarters. "Do get some rest yourself. Sir Bud will take care of Master Zelos until they get back."

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Those idiots are harder to kill than cockroaches." She thought she heard the slightest murmur of a chuckle coming from the butler as he disappeared down the corridor.

She rubbed her fingers together, realizing that there was a faint film of red slime on them. Grimacing, she remembered that she had just touched her forehead, too. There was probably ooze on it now. Great. She probably looked like an idiot in front of Sebastian. She went back into the bathroom and washed the film off her hands, then took a towel and cleaned her face. She gave Regal's body another glance, and then half-smirked. Anything had to be better than yesterday.

As she went to go back to sleep on the couch, Sheena tried brushing a small fear aside. Stupid Sebastian. Of course Lloyd and Zelos would be fine. Why did he have to bring up something like that? She pulled a cushion behind her head and got comfortable. This really was a nice sleeping couch. She knew why Zelos liked to crash on it. Now, if it only didn't smell like him, it would be perfect. Not that it was a bad scent, but she just didn't like to think about it while she was sleeping.

Thing was, four turned into five. Five turned into six. Six would turn into seven, and then eight, and so on. But nobody would be coming home.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

What? I know, right? That ending sucks! What happened? Nothing good, my gentle reader. Nothing good at all. Just remember—Chapter nine? Four o'clock? Do you know your Japanese superstitions? Just throwing it out there.

Sorry. Gotta be a jerk like that.

By the way, if you haven't gone to lately, do so now. They have released Summoning of the Spirits, a Tales of Phantasia/Symphonia album. It is very enjoyable, although a bit heavy on piano mixes and generic rock. I would suggest No Better Time Than Now, Deity, and Ain't Yo' Fool, if you want just a few songs. Seriously, NBTTN is giving me goose-bumps. Good stuff.

You know what to do.


	10. Sunder and Seal

**Chapter Ten: Sunder and Seal**

Their attempt to fight the creature back was useless. Zelos could see that now. The monster had mass and power on its side—it didn't matter how many punches they could dodge or how many parts they could lump off. Fighting against the monster was little more successful than trying to fight the ocean or a pool of gelatin. Sure, they could knick and destroy an exsphere and break the occasional bones that served as support, but it wasn't enough. It would just flop down on them, stabbing at them with oozing tendrils of flesh. One blow caught him off-guard, and it stung with a cold edge. It was too much for two men.

Of course, it didn't help that Princess Hilda was doing nothing to help them. She stood in the center of the monster's mass, observing them with an empty glare. What was wrong with her? Zelos remembered the terror and shock she had just a night ago, but it was taken from her. What was left was just a physical echo. How could he bring someone in her condition back to the king?

"Your highness, knock it off and get over here!" Zelos yelled.

She looked back at him, eyes vacant of emotion. "There is no point."

Her response was terse, but it gave Lloyd hope. He parried one tendril that struck towards his head, but focused his attention on the ghostly figure. He pleaded, "Your highness, you have to come with us! Think about your father!"

"My father," Hilda mimicked the words. She had no sarcasm or sense of humor to them. It was just a lifeless response. "My father."

"_It . . .is uselesssss. . . Lloyd Irving_," The monster hissed. "_She. . .gave in . . .as sssshould. . .you!_" Two thick tentacles swiped at him, hitting the floors of the sewer like a jackhammer. Sewage sprayed upward from the channels, splattering in sick, sloppy puddles. He'd managed to dodge the blow, even though he was soaked in sewage.

Zelos was surprised. "It's about time you started talking! Just what the hell did you do to the princess?"

The redhead ducked as a burly tendril struck above his head, raining brick and rubble in its aftermath. He brushed the debris out of his hair, but maintained his composure. The monster was amused by his tenacity. "_Funny Chossseen. Funny Zelosss. Funny Lloyd Irving._"

Lloyd shot a glance over to Zelos. "Wasn't he a lot more talkative last time?"

"Yeah. Little more articulate, too," Zelos agreed. He made a horizontal slash at the monster, drawing some flesh away but otherwise doing little damage. "What's up with you. . .Blobby?"

Lloyd couldn't believe that Zelos had actually taken Colette's nickname for the monster. It was amused as well, body shaking with waves of laughter. The princess smiled a little, but remained otherwise unmoved. Zelos made a nervous smile and shrugged, not sure what the big deal was. It wasn't like he was chummy with the monster to begin with. He'd never gotten a name out of it before.

"_. . .Blobby?_" The monster was perplexed. "_I . . .have nothing . . .like Lloyd Irving_." It laughed again, sending an ominous warble echoing throughout the sewers. "_Namessss . . .are for . . .tassssty humansss._"

A chill of fear ebbed over Lloyd, quickly followed by rage. "You bastard!" he hissed, trying to keep from biting his own tongue. "How many had to die so you could live?"

"_Three thousssssssand . . .four hundred . . .sssixty . . .four,_" it responded with a cold tone. It began to warm as it chuckled. "_Ssshould have been one more . . .Ssshould have had. . .Mine_."

Its immense greed was one thing. The thought of it being possessive of anything was enough to send shocks of fear through Zelos's body. He sniffled, the fight beginning to wear him down. He spun his sword around in an elegant arch, planting it into the monster's flesh with a burst of electricity. He wanted to slam through the monster's defenses and yank Hilda to freedom, but it was becoming a more farfetched dream every moment he spent dueling with this pile of festering ooze.

"We won't let you!" Lloyd barked. "We will find Presea before you, and we will keep this town safe! No more lives!"

"_Puressseea. . .ssshe wasss not Mine . . ._" There was a cackle that tore through the atmosphere, something that sounded bass and became like radio static. "_But sshee will be . . ._"

Hilda nodded, more like a member of the undead than any living being. "And she will be happy."

The monster caught Lloyd off guard. It pummeled into his chest, ooze sliming around the boy's torso in a quick, constricting grasp. He gasped for air, his ribs crushing inward. His left sword dropped first, clanking on the group with an empty echo. He tried cutting himself out of the monster, but his wrist twisted back as it slammed him against the wall. His other sword tumbled to the ground, more like a broken limb than a weapon.

"_And Mine will be mine. . ._" The monster roared with laughter, enjoying feeling the swordsman squirm. It reached out for Zelos, enveloping his outstretched sword and swallowing his body into its own. The redhead gasped for breath, panicking as his head slipped under the cold flesh. His exsphere was burning now, hot like a shooting star skipping over the planet's surface. This couldn't be it. He wouldn't let it be.

He looked over at Hilda, scarlet gel obscuring his vision. Yet, in the scattered mess of monster flesh and bone, he saw her smile. He tried reaching out to her, but felt like a child caught in a river's current. The world went upside-down, then right-side up, spinning over and over itself. It couldn't be the end. He just needed to focus. Just a few seconds, and—

The princess kept her smirk. "And they will all be yours?"

The monster agreed, its voice echoing in their ears. "_And they will be happy._"

Zelos smiled too, although it was for a different reason. With a great heave, he felt mana shoot out from his body. This was his last move, but he'd make sure it was a good one. Pillars of white-hot light danced around the monster's body, lancing in and out from time to time. Princess Hilda screamed, but she was unharmed by the spell. That was good. He could be at least thankful for that.

"_Judgment, bitch_," Zelos thought before his mind completely gave out.

* * *

**Sku-reeeeeech!**

The jarring noise snapped Colette out of her slumber. She didn't remember when she had fallen asleep. The last thing she recalled was an endless ocean spreading out in front of her, carrying onward forever. She was planning on landing in Iselia with the hope that she could find the Professor and Genis. It became obvious that she had steered off-course in her slumber. There was no reason Iselia would ever be snowing in the middle of summer.

She had beached the elemental cargo in the Flanoir harbor.

"Oh, no! No no no!" Colette flushed bright red. She unbuckled herself and exited the vehicle, dreading what she would find. Despite the awful grating noise, it looked like the ship would be okay. There were scratches along the bottom part of the hull from where she had slammed into the cold beach. Thankfully, none of them were all that deep. She had been lucky again. Still, she couldn't believe that she'd fallen asleep. Maybe she shouldn't have been so gung-ho about finding Presea.

She was deep enough into her thoughts to be startled by a new voice, "Oooy! We've got another one!" Colette squeaked in fright and jumped around. Several burly men came up to see what had happened. They seemed unaffected by the cold, all in naval uniforms with thick jackets. She wondered if she should run, but the men weren't harming her.

Colette got enough courage up to talk with one of them. "Pardon me, but you said 'Another one.' Another one what?"

A man with a square jaw and a well-groomed beard responded. "You're from Altamira, aren't you?"

"Well, no. I come from a town called Iselia, and—" Colette started to correct the man, but stopped. "Wait, what do you mean Altamira?"

Another man explained the situation to the blonde. "We've been getting ships in from Altamira for the past couple of days. Just drifters, I suppose. None o' them than remember why they left." He rubbed his nose and sniffled. "Strangest damn thing I've ever seen."

A new flare of panic rushed through the Chosen's brain. "Is anyone taking care of them?"

"The doctor's doing the best he can," a young, slim man answered. "The entire town's been working to help these people. Even some of the tourists are helping." He sighed and crossed his arms. "We've tried to send letters to Altamira, but we've gotten no response. It's such a mess."

"Say, hold on," The first man stopped and studied Colette. "Think I've seen you before."

Colette smiled, bowing towards him. "Oh! I'm sorry. I'm Colette Brunel. I came here with some friends when—"

"Oh, for the love of Martel!" The young man cried out. He grabbed the Chosen's hand and shook it profusely. "It's such an honor! A blessing! A miracle!" Colette blushed again, not sure how to respond.

The second man snorted and shook his head. "Wouldn't you know it? Angels among us."

"I'm not really an angel. I'm. . .well, never mind," Colette didn't know how to explain it to them, and she really didn't want to, anyway. She smiled, "I don't know how much I can help. I'm actually supposed to be looking for Presea Combatir. Suppose you don't know her?"

"Tell you what, lass." The first man scratched at his chin. "Come help us for a couple of hours with the doctor's patients. We'll look to see if there's any girl here by that name. Can't say we've been getting a lot of travelers this way lately, but you never know who gets tired of the damn heat."

Colette nodded. This wouldn't be a complete waste of time. Maybe nobody would know anything, but at the very least, she could help people out. That was her job, after all. She couldn't stop being the Chosen. It was against her nature. She followed her entourage to the isolated town, hopping along as she went. She'd just have to hope the others would forgive her for losing a little bit of time.

The city was bustling with activity, groups of people huddled together as they made their way. It was easy to tell the Flanoir citizens apart from their visitors—they walked with their backs straight, taking the cold to their chest like a plant absorbs sunlight. Some of the people gave her an offhand glance, knowing who she was but not otherwise shocked to see her presence. There was one who was surprised to find her there, however. It wasn't like she didn't see the Chosen from time to time, but to run into her without Lloyd was unusual. What was she doing here?

The surprised visitor called out, "Colette!"

Colette turned to the right, noticing a child waving to her. Her heart panged with shock and wonder. It was a little known superstition amongst Colette's friends that every mistake she made was a miracle in disguise. She never believed it herself, but it always gave her courage. Seeing those pink pigtails in the throngs of people made her wonder again. There was no way that she would be here. That was just too convenient.

She dropped her jaw. "Presea?"

Every stumble she ever took was a blessing. She'd done it again.

* * *

Sheena was going to hate doing this. She wished she could just let Regal sleep for a while longer, but she was scared. It was nearly noon, and nobody had come back. It wasn't like she was expecting Colette to be back yet, but she knew Zelos and Lloyd should have returned from their patrol. She wanted to go hunting for them on her own, but she knew it was just going to end in failure. She needed somebody to watch her back, even if it was more likely that she was going to watch his. At any rate, she couldn't go looking for them on her own.

She crouched down next to his ear. "Regal?"

Blue eyes flickered open. He seemed groggy, wincing at the bright light in the bathroom. He brushed his bangs out of his face, relieved to see Sheena smiling. There was a groan as he tried to push himself up, his back aching. The ninja imagined that she wouldn't be in a much better situation had the same happened to her.

"Hey there, big guy. Feeling any better?" Sheena beamed. To be honest, she didn't think he would respond. At least it was one thing she had going for her.

Regal finally sat upright, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not the best I have ever been, but I'm doing alright." There was a murmuring pain around his exsphere, but it was starting to die down. It was little more painful than a healing burn. He asked back, "And you?"

Sheena half-laughed, "Hah, yeah. About that." She sighed, lowering herself down to his level. "I think we may be a little bit of trouble."

"I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary," Regal sighed. He glanced around, now a little more confused. "Where are we?"

"Zelos's house. West bathroom. Long story." Sheena was terse on the subject. "Listen, though. I've got a favor to ask."

Regal nodded. "Whatever you need from me, you may have it. I owe you my life."

"Ah, geez. Don't get all noble on me," Sheena blushed. She scratched the back of her head. "Could you. . .ah, hmm. How to put this without sounding weird?"

"It's all right. Out with it," Regal half-encouraged, half-ordered. His voice had a commanding quality to it, which surprised Sheena a little. She'd expected him to be a lot weaker than this. Maybe he would be up to it.

The ninja produced a small package from behind her. It looked like a set of clothes, the contents wrapped in string. She placed in on the floor next to the bathroom, trying not to beam red. She found that she couldn't look him in the eye as she said, "I . . .kinda need you to get yourself cleaned up. Then we can talk about it."

Regal's face went crimson. He looked at the deteriorated state of his suit, dismayed at the tears and holes that had been torn in it. His skin was in no better condition, still coated with a thin layer of now-dry slime. Now he was unable to look Sheena in the eye, embarrassed at his state of being. Perhaps it was a shallow reflex. Going around two worlds in a prisoner's outfit was one thing. At least then, he looked clean.

"Sorry. Just a health thing," Sheena apologized. She went into a little fit of giggles, playing with a loose bang. "It's just. . .well, I didn't want to do it."

Both of them went silent, the shared mental image disturbing and a little perverse. No, that wouldn't do. Neither moved for a second, and then both coughed in unison. That made it more awkward. Sheena tapped her fingers on the floor, "Not that I'm implying that I wouldn't—"

"No, that's fine," Regal agreed.

Sheena went red again. "Because, I'm sure you probably look fine na—"

"Well, I'd return the favor if I had—" Regal felt his skin flush hot.

"Yeah, and it wouldn't be like it's anything sexu—" Sheena agreed.

Regal admitted the same. "Of course not. Not that you aren't, well. . ."

The conversation came to a halt. The only way it could have possibly been more awkward was if Zelos was present, giving suggestions about recording the scenario in some form of artwork. Or, even worse, participating himself.

It was good as time as ever for her to go. "Um. . .I'll just be leaving now."

"Thank you."

Sheena slammed the door shut behind her and wanted to bang her head into it.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Oh, god. I'm twenty one now. Ack.

Sorry about being heavy on you at the beginning of the chapter. I was writing ahead a tad, and I just wasn't happy where I last left Lloyd and Zelos. It was too ambiguous. So, I thought I'd clear things up by telling you how _**screwed**_ they were. Enjoy.

Conversely, if that did not offend you, I am sorry about the ending of the chapter. Wait. Scratch that. I like being a ship tease. If I made you feel awkward, then mission accomplished.

I have nothing to say about the middle part. I got inspired by a surprise snowstorm we had. Don't you hate how some people can get super lucky like that? I'd almost think I wrote a dues ex machina, if it wasn't part of Colette's personality to get weird luck like that. I mean, damn.

Well, hope this was up to your liking. Let me know. I will promptly continue to make this more shocking, terrifying, and embarrassing.


	11. The One True Home

**Chapter 11: The One True Home  
**

"You smell like my brother."

Regal looked up, surprised. "I'm sorry." His face flushed red, "I will get him another bottle of shampoo. It took a surprising amount to—"

Seles pursed her eyebrows. "I don't care that you smell like my brother. Just saying it freaks me out."

The teenage girl flopped down next to him on the sofa, bored and perturbed. Her brother still wasn't home, so that reduced the number of people she felt comfortable talking to. She was kind of, sort of worried about him, in a way. It was his dumb fault that he hadn't come back yet. She knew it. However, she couldn't feel content with just studying or reading for the moment. She wanted to do something to help the others, who were busy wrapped up in their own activities. It would at least keep her mind busy.

That ninja hussy was hurrying around the house, collecting supplies here and there. She had taken a bunch of odds and ends—health kits containing gels, some food items, rolls of bandages, things like this. She'd even managed to procure a rope and some basic tools, although Seles had no idea where she'd found them. She should have been more confused about Regal appearing in the house, but she hadn't followed her brother's edict to stay out of the west bathroom. She had figured out what was going on as soon as that slut had fallen asleep. Some great ninja.

Seles crossed her arms and leaned back. "So, what is that wench up to?"

"Pardon?" Regal asked. She shot him a dirty look. Either he was just stupid or playing dumb with her.

"Cut the crap. You know who I mean," Seles hissed. "Is she going to play globetrotter again? Maybe this time she can get us kidnapped. She seems to be pretty good at getting my big brother in trouble."

Regal's face went stoic. "We do not know where Zelos or Lloyd is. We cannot jump to conclusions."

Again, Seles felt her left eye twitch. Her voice took on a sarcastic tone. "Well, pardon me if I offend you, Duke Bryant. What pray tell do you think happened to them?"

The larger man said nothing. There was a pained expression that briefly passed on his face. He looked sick. Never answering Seles's question, he excused himself. "Pardon me. I am not feeling well." He managed to stumble his way to the bathroom, legs still not back up to their former prowess. Seles wondered if he was just trying to blow her off. There was a low retching sound from the bathroom, and she changed her mind. That man was messed up.

Her mind was about to drift to more disgusting places when the ninja showed back up. She had her supplies rolled up and packed into a bag slung on her back. She smiled, brushing a bang out of her face. "Where did Regal go so fast?"

"Bathroom," Seles said. "Think he lost his breakfast."

Sheena gritted her teeth. "Funny. I don't remember him eating anything."

"Whatever. He's a big guy. He can deal with it," Seles cut the conversation short. She redirected their topic, "What are you planning to do with all that crap?"

Sheena squinted her eyes. "You don't talk much like a proper young lady."

That pissed the girl off. She leapt off the couch. "Look, okay? I'm worried about my big brother! He should have been back by now, right?" She hissed, "If he got hurt, it's your fault!"

The comment should have been enough reason for Sheena to gut the girl. She found herself unable to respond. She probably should have gone with him and Lloyd last night, yes. She couldn't say that she regretted staying here, though. As horrible as it was for Seles to be yelling at her for her brother's disappearance, it would only be worse the other way around. Let the brat cry. She was going to fix the situation, anyway.

"We're going to look for him, okay?" Sheena explained. "Just chill out."

Seles put her hands on her hips. "What, you and the guy hurling in the bathroom? How far do you think you'll get with someone as sick as him?"

Sheena let a small smile creep up the left side of her face. "He got up. He took a bath. He put on some clean clothes. It's a good start."

The young girl tapped her fingers on her head. No, this wouldn't do. Zelos's friends, while very stubborn and determined, were sometimes suicidal idiots. Best case scenario, their running around made them both sick. Worst case, they would end up dead in a gutter within twelve hours. Nope. She wasn't going to have it.

"Fine then. I'll help you," Seles nodded. "You will need someone who's good at conversing with others. You're kind of crude, and that guy in the bathroom is more likely to puke on someone's shoes than hold a conversation right now."

Sheena couldn't believe her ears. "I'm crude? Hello? Do you listen to yourself talk?"

"I'm not saying I'll help you fight or anything. I don't think I can keep up anymore," Seles admitted. She sighed, and then pleaded. "Look, I just want to make sure my big brother's okay? I can't just leave this place, now that he's in danger. No matter what. I want to help find him."

Sheena milled in around in her head. She sort of had a point. As good as she might be at getting information out of most people, many nobles looked down on her and clammed up whenever she interrogated them. Despite his best intentions, she couldn't depend on Regal right now. Not until he started feeling better. She was going to regret this, but teaming up with Seles on foot patrol wasn't entirely detrimental.

"Fine," Sheena agreed. "Just for the day, though. No nighttime activities. And you've got to leave the fighting to me and Regal."

Seles smirked. "Deal."

As far as partnerships went, this wasn't the worst one Sheena would experience.

* * *

The inn in Flanoir was crammed full of sick people. Most of them were doing alright now, but their skin looked pale and their expressions empty. Several of them were wrapped in blankets, never having been exposed to cold and snow in their lives. Colette was shocked by their presence. They all looked like they had the flu.

"We've had to put them here, for the time being," Presea explained. "The doctor's office just can't hold this many people. The city has doubled in size in the past few days."

Colette nodded. Brushing back a bang, she asked, "How have they been doing?"

Her friend smiled. "At first, they all were in shock. Most snapped out of it within a day. After that, it's been mostly fevers and nausea. Many of them can't recall what happened since they landed here. It's like they've lost a week of their memory."

This made the girl wince. "Then they haven't said anything about the monster."

Presea's gave her a confused look. "A monster did this?"

"Well, I'm not sure about this, but there was this attack in Meltokio, see, and—well, somehow it split and got to Altamira, and then—" Colette began to ramble on. "I haven't actually seen it myself, but Zelos and Sheena says it's huge! We ran into it in Lezareno Headquarters, but it ran away when we came." She began getting worked up, shaking her fists up and down. "And it eats people and exspheres and it almost killed Regal and—"

Everyone in the inn's lounge glared at her. She gasped, taken aback by their stares. At first, they looked angry, but then there was a wave of dread that spread through them all. She wanted to hide. Turning to Presea, she hoped that the girl would do something to stop them all from staring at her. Presea's expression was the most confused of all. Colette gritted her teeth. She'd overdone it.

"Something tells me I've missed quite a bit," Presea said.

Relaxing, Colette agreed. "I'm afraid I don't know most of it myself."

Presea thought about Colette's babbling for a moment. She couldn't help but be a little curious about what Colette was talking about. As much as she hated to admit it, she had a fascination with abnormalities. It's not like she didn't have her hands full, what with rebuilding Ozette and all. Even this vacation had fallen apart when the Altamira victims began to show up. There would be no summer break for her this year, it seemed.

"Come with me," Presea gestured. "You can tell me about it while I pack."

Colette was more than glad to get out of the main foyer. She couldn't handle everyone staring at her much longer. Presea led her up the stairs, producing a room key out of her pocket. Before Colette followed her all the way up, the blonde turned and bowed to the confused masses in the inn. That didn't resolve much. Turning away in embarrassment, she hoped that no one would pester her for answers.

Presea's room smelt like old pine. There was a simple bed and dresser, complete with a desk and an oil lamp sitting on top of it. It was a little cold, the windows cracked to allow heat to escape. Presea's bag lay next to the dresser, her trusty axe along with it. Thinking about Flanoir took Colette back to their travels, remembering how warm and beautiful it was even in the cold and snow. This place belonged in a special part of her heart.

"You probably shouldn't have mentioned Regal while we were down there," Presea half-heartedly scolded Colette. "Some of the washed-up victims were people who worked in the Lezareno Corporation. You may have scared them."

The blonde apologized. "I'm sorry. I just started talking, and I couldn't stop." She felt awkward again, so she tried to swerve off topic. "Why did you come to Flanoir for a vacation, anyway?"

Presea paused, a half-folded sweater still in her hands. "Some people miss the heat when it's winter. I guess I missed the cold."

Colette worked that over in her head. It made enough sense. She asked, "Can I help you with anything?"

"Just tell me what's happened, and I'll keep working," Presea said. She finished folding her sweater, grabbing the bag from the floor. "It sounds like a lot has occurred."

The chosen gave her a quick rundown of all she knew. She started from where Lloyd and she had joined with Sheena and Zelos, telling her about accidentally hitting the chosen with her chakram. When she described what she had seen at Altamira, she smashed her sentences into one almost infinite compound mass. Colette also talked about how sick Regal was and how Zelos was almost killed by some electrical contraption on his arm. She finished off talking about she had decided to go find Presea and how she had fallen asleep and wound up here.

Presea listened for some time, waiting for the chosen to finish. When she finally did, the girl asked, "But why?"

"Why what?" Colette echoed.

"Why did you come looking for me?" Presea asked again. "Wouldn't it have been wiser to find the professor and Genis first?"

Colette laughed, "Well, I was trying to find them. I just found you first." It was then that she realized she had neglected a very important part of this story. "Plus . . .the monster is looking for you."

Presea stopped packing, frozen on the spot. She frowned, and then closed her bag up. She sat down on the bed, kicking her feet absentmindedly. "Any reason why?"

"I'm not sure why. Zelos says it knew you." Colette joined the girl on the bed, sitting on the opposite side. "The monster knew Lloyd too. And Regal. But it really, really knew you. It was looking for you all this time."

This thought settled with a thick thud in her heart. Presea closed her eyes, "And what would it do if it found me?"

Colette gave a deep sigh. "I'm not sure. It kills a lot of people. Zelos said it had taken Princess Hilda captive, though. And it really wasn't killing Regal yet, although—"

"I understand." Presea cut Colette short. All she wanted to know was the consequences of fighting the monster. She didn't want to know how or why it operated as it did. It sounded repulsive enough as it was. She didn't need mental images to go along with it.

Colette folded her hands onto her dress. "Are you going to be okay, Presea?"

The pink-haired girl nodded. "I haven't met a monster yet that has stopped me. And these people here will be fine, as long as they get proper care. They don't need my help." She smiled, bitter thoughts on her mind. "It sounds like you need as much assistance as possible."

"So, you'll be helping us?" The blonde bounced on the bed, ecstatic.

Presea blushed. "That was always my intention."

Although, in light of all of this information, she wished it was just easier to run away.

* * *

It was late in the morning before the trio left the Wilder estate. The town was overcast, thick gray clouds bearing down. Members of the aristocratic quarter were frantic, bustling to and fro with their servants. They all had suitcases and bags, like they had decided to take a united vacation. Sheena scratched her head, wondering what the hell was going on as a wagon bearing a baby grand piano passed them. Had they all snapped?

"Well, then." Seles snorted. "I never thought my brother was that poor of a neighbor."

Regal placed a hand on his neck. "Surely it's not some kind of pilgrimage."

"Looks like an evacuation." Sheena frowned. She turned to Seles. "Feeling social?"

Seles faked a salute and abandoned the duo. She waded into the masses, dodging hurried noblemen along the path. Sheena wondered who the girl was looking for. Wouldn't any of these people work? Why would she avoid some of them? She crossed her arms, still trying to think of an answer. All she could think of was racism that she might face. She doubted all nobles were accommodating to her kind, at least not yet.

Regal sat down next to the ninja's feet. "Perhaps we should have gone with her."

"Nah. She would have taken us with if she wanted us." Sheena blew off the comment. Besides, she didn't really want to spend time with Seles that badly. Let the little aristocrat play with her own kind.

A few minutes went by before the girl returned. In the meantime, the duo continued to watch the hustle around the quarter. Some of the aristocrats stared back at them, but none of them felt all that much need to talk with them. Even if they did talk, they only addressed Regal, much to Sheena's frustration. If she didn't feel so compelled to be such a damn heroine all the time, she would have poked a few of their eyes out. There was no way in hell she was ever going to live here. The class divide was still abysmal.

After babbling on with a portly woman for quite a bit of time, Seles finally broke free from the pack and came back. She readjusted her hat, and then gave them the low-down. "Evacuation. Like you said, Sheena."

"Why now, though?" Sheena hissed. She tapped a foot impatiently. "Seems to me like it's a weird time to start evacuating. If he was going to do it, why didn't he do it after the first attack?"

Seles gave a dry smile. "Well, that was before that monster attacked the castle."

Both the duke and the ninja took off with blinding speed. Seles couldn't believe how fast they reacted. She grumbled, then picked up her skirt and bolted after them. They didn't slow until they were in front of the castle, cutting in front of horse-led carts and dodging knights. Sheena stormed inside the throne room, throwing the doors aside with ease. Seles could barely catch her breath. She had forgotten how powerful it was to have an exsphere. It was at times like this that she regretted giving it up.

To the group's disdain, the king was not in the throne room. Confused servants stared at the trio, curious about their sudden appearance. They all gasped as knights flew after the three intruders, surprised as they took off towards the west wing. If the castle wasn't already going to hell, they probably would have all been more concerned. As it was just a couple of nobles and a ninja, however, they weren't as worried. One yelled after them, "Look down in the prisons!"

Sheena gave a thumb's up and lead the charge. The knights continued their dogged pursuit until they saw the trio fly down towards the prisons. It was strange to see intruders throwing themselves down there. Usually, they were after paintings or members of the royal family. They stopped before the prison's entrance, not wanting to follow. Especially not after what they had all seen.

The group landed at the bottom of the stairs, Seles winded from running so much. Sheena thought the girl was going to go into a full blown asthma attack, but her breathing returned to normal. She smiled, the expression lasting until they observed the entire passage. Regal remained quiet, but Seles starting shrieking in horror. Both reactions terrified Sheena.

Regal was the first to approach the disaster zone. His hands shook as he touched one of the cell's bars, all of it coated in thick, red slime. The floor remained drenched in the stuff, only scuffed where the ex-convict had stepped. Plumbing and toilets overflowed with filth, pooling in a gritty mix of sewer water and gore. Blood smeared the entire western portion of the prison, running all the way into the passageway between the castle and the coliseum. The prisoners were all gone. No parts remained of them, save for the shredded remains of clothing and the occasional strip of flesh stuck between bars. None of the doors had been broken open. There was only one way these people had left their cells—in pieces.

"Sheena," Regal murmured. The ninja saw his knees give way, collapsing near the cells in terror. She splashed through the flood of gore, surprised he didn't faint clean away. Seles was less enthusiastic about entering the foul mess. She squinted, and then entered the filth. There was an awful, cold feeling that permeated her shoes.

Sheena rubbed Regal's shoulder. "It's okay. Get a hold of yourself."

Seles stomped through the mess, arriving next to the ninja. "Don't tell me that this was—"

"It was here." Sheena nodded. She shivered as she touched the icy bars, wiping a trail of slime off them. "That, or this is the worst plumbing accident I've ever seen?"

Regal was still dumbstruck. "Why did it stop?"

Both girls stared at him. Sheena scratched her head. "Run that by us again?"

"Why would that creature stop here?" Regal asked again. He grabbed onto the bars, pulling himself back up. "It consumed anything that got in its path when it attacked the Lezareno headquarters. It just decided to stop here? This does not seem like the attack of a typical wild beast."

"Precisely."

The trio lifted their gaze and dropped their jaws. All three bowed as his majesty stepped down and approached them. In a strange act, he walked into the mess and continued going. It was like he couldn't sense what he was wading in. Granted, it was only ankle deep, but it was still filthy. Not even a normal person would have entered this realm of disaster.

"I heard from my guards that you had all broken into the castle." The king explained his presence. "I would normally punish people for such an intrusion, but we hardly have the capability of doing that right now."

"So, this is why you ordered the evacuation," Seles said.

The king nodded. "Indeed. Before now, I was convinced that we had an unintelligent brute on our hands. This is no longer the case." He sighed, sounding concerned. "In light of this attack, I must assume something went wrong during your patrol last night."

"My brother and Lloyd Irving went out last night," Seles explained. She cringed, thinking that last sentence came out a little awkward. "Anyway, they haven't returned yet. I would guess that you are right, your majesty."

Despite the gravity of the situation, the king smiled. "I would hardly think that they would run away with the kingdom in this sort of threat."

That set off a memory in Sheena's brain. She hissed, "Not with that stupid cuff you've got on Zelos! That almost killed him last night! I thought you said it was safe to take him out of the city!"

"I only said it was safe before sunset," The king lowered his voice. "I thought you understood the implications." He backed off, agreeing with the ninja. "At any rate, now that we are all abandoning this place, it would hardly seem far to have him chained to Meltokio any longer."

The king produced a ring with several keys. He placed it in Sheena's hands, his grasp firm but reassuring. "When you find the chosen, tell him that I am sorry. He does not have to search for Hilda any longer."

"So, this is all?" Regal asked. The king looked confused, his gaze drilling into Regal's mind. He closed his eyes and turned away. "I am sorry, your highness. I find it hard to believe that you are willing to surrender your kingdom and your daughter to a beast."

There was a dark response from the king. "I doubt you would have willingly handed over your company and your employees to that creature." The response cut through the conversation, leaving what mending the group had done slashed apart. Regal fell silent, unable to respond. That hit a sore spot.

"You may remain in the city as long as you see fit," The king gave them all one last edict. "However, my guards will be securing all buildings, including this castle. You will not be able to get in, save for trespassing. You will be alone when this creature finds you." He went back towards the steps, giving them a final warning. "Leave this place. Purchase all you may need now. No one will be here to save you later."

After waiting for the king to pass, the group quickly left the prison. Seles fumed the entire way out of the castle, biting curses down. No way. She was not going to leave her big, stupid brother here. Regal felt abandoned, rubbing his wrists absentmindedly and wondering if they did have any chance in all the levels of Niflheim. Could they even ask Tokunaga and Sebastian to remain, even if it was just for their masters? Sheena couldn't stomach her feeling of dread, either. Where were Lloyd and Zelos? They would have stopped the monster if they'd seen it, wouldn't they? She and Zelos had just a few evenings ago. No. They must have been overtaken. It was stupid to look for them. But yet, she couldn't shake the duty she had to them. If they could be saved, she would do it. She just hated not knowing what had happened to them.

It would be quite some time before the heroes would be seen again.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Blah. I kept rewriting this section over and over again. Just wasn't quite right. I think this gets closer to the dread I want. Doubly so since we have not seen our valiant heroes. Mwa ha ha . . .

You know, I have problems writing scenes with the king. I want to give him a good, proper first name. It's the same reason I can't write Doctor Who fanfiction. I want to write The Doctor instead of the doctor. Same thing here. What would his name be, anyway? My vote is for Elvisios the Thirteenth.

Should my Seles be such a damn tsundere? I mean, really.

Anyway. Don't cry, fair Zelos fans. The suspense is good for you.


	12. An Empty Domain

**Chapter 12: An Empty Domain**

The sun had sunk into the dark clouds, storms swallowing up rays of sunlight before they could strike the sea-soaked beaches. Along the docks, several ships were beginning to take off. Thunder rumbled in the distance, a gloating laugh that mocked the entire group of refugees. What could be done, though? The king had demanded that they abandon their homes, and so they did. They would just have to hope that robbers were not willing to stay behind, or that the poor would not seek refuge in their abandoned homes.

"Your highness, it's time to go," one of the king's last precious soldiers informed his lord. "You still not have given us a destination."

The king's eyes were dark, his expression worn. Running away was the tactic of a coward. He was surrendering his city and his crown to that beast that had captured his daughter. What was to be done, though? Where could he run? He was not such a spry young man than he could survive anywhere. Who would take him in? He squinted his eyes, afraid to admit his thoughts.

His highness murmured, "Flanoir, perhaps? Triet? Would the Sylvaranti take us in?" He shook his head, straightening his back. "It doesn't matter anymore."

The king's subordinate stared at him, but did not question the king's angst. He nodded, "Flanoir, then. I will speak with the captain. Please, get on board." The king gave him a terse bob of the head, and then entered the ship. He glanced around in awe, watching his people board all sizes and sorts of boats. He wondered how many could be sea-worthy anymore. How many would get lost at sea?

"Could we fit any more aboard this vessel?" The king pondered aloud.

His knight turned back to him. "Sir, we must leave immediately. We cannot—"

The king snapped around, grabbing the knight by a rim around his breastplate. "How many more?"

Thunder rolled between the two men. It consumed their conversation, leaving a dry silence. A gentle hiss emerged from the ocean as thick rain pelted its surface. The storm was starting to bear down on them. The king sighed, and then he released his knight. If they stalled any longer, they wouldn't be able to take off. Even now, they should not leave. Still, there was little choice in the matter. He was disgusted with his abandonment of Meltokio, but he was terrified of his own fate. Some grand leader he had become.

"Your highness. Place faith in the Chosen and his companions," the knight's words barely escaped his helmet. "They have saved the world before. Certainly, they could protect a small town. But they cannot do their work if you tie their hands."

There it was. He was no longer a king. He was a potential hostage, just like his daughter. Perhaps not even that—maybe just a meal. A flash of lightning split the sky. Within that instant, he knew what he had to do. Perhaps he was abandoning some of his citizens here, but more were leaving with him. He had to lead them until Meltokio was safe once more. Or the world was consumed.

The king nodded. "Let us depart."

The knight saluted his king, and then left him to report to the captain. Within a few minutes, the king's ship soared off the docks into foaming waters. While his stomach rolled, the king buried his seasickness within his mind. He watched the waves and the storm obscure the continent with his beloved town, and then sink it into nature's chaos. He was wrong to leave his people behind. He should have been struck down for surrendering his daughter. And yet, fate saw it necessary to let him live.

If this was the way his reign would end, then he wished the sea would swallow him, too.

* * *

The sound of children's laughter carried far and high on the gentle wind that evening. After working with burly lumberjacks for so long, Presea had forgotten how other boys and girls sang and giggled so. While the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, several youths were still out playing in front of the schoolyard. The small town was bathed in orange sunlight, purple clouds growing from the west but not encroaching on the evening quite yet. Colette sighed, oxygen running deep into her lungs. The air smelt of sweet grass and fresh flowers. She never knew how she could be homesick so far from home and yet be struck with it once she came back. It felt like a long day getting to Iselia, but she was glad they had made it.

"I would assume those are Raine's students," Presea spoke.

Colette shrugged. "Well, Professor Sage is just one of the teachers here. After the world of regeneration happened, quite a few teachers have been traveling in and out of here. I think they are all interested in knowing how—"

Presea interrupted her. "No, that's not what I meant. Look." She pushed Colette around until the chosen saw what she did. Colette chuckled in surprise. There, amongst the small crowd of children in front of the schoolhouse was the professor. She had worked them up into a frenzy, posing dramatically with her staff whipped in random directions. She was quite loud, drilling the students on some history lesson. The kids would squeal with laughter at her reenactments, particularly when she would fake her own death. All that the duo caught were short snippets of her speeches that poked above the children's laughter, but that was enough to make them giggle as well.

The professor was caught up in her own acting when she stopped, her left hand held fast over an imaginary stab wound. She had a knack for paying sharp attention to her surroundings. The newest spectators to her show caught her off guard. Her students all turned to see why the professor had stopped, and they gave off a high squeal. Most of them leapt on Colette, thousands of questions flying in the air. A few surrounded Presea as well, asking her about rumors of the journey of salvation. Their energy was overwhelming.

"Class! Settle down! Just because we have special guests doesn't mean we can bombard them with questions." Although Raine was quick to correct her students, Presea had the nagging feeling that she did so just to be able to speak to her friends first. She hugged both of them. "It's good to see you two again. What brings you here, anyway?" She narrowed her eyes. "And where is Lloyd? I thought you two were joined at the hip."

Colette shook her head. "No, professor. That would be very awkward. Neither of us would be able to fight well like that!"

The saying had gone over the blonde's head, as usual. The professor sighed; there was no amount of education that was going to shake that off. "Never mind. I'm just glad that you two are alright."

"I would hate to interrupt your lesson, but. . ." Presea tried to explain what they were doing in Iselia. "Well, we have a problem."

One of the children decided it was a good time to jump into the conversation. "Dwarven vow number two!" His classmates chanted in unison "Never abandon someone in need!" Presea smirked, shaking her head during the entire event. It was apparent that some of Lloyd's dogma and mantras had worked their way into the school system.

Raine rubbed the corner of her eyes. "This was just glorified babysitting, really, but. . .you're right. I think class is dismissed for now." She addressed her students, "Do any of you need help getting home?"

The group of students shook their heads. Most of them looked disappointed that the professor was done with her act for the night. Older brothers and sisters dragged their siblings in tow. The small crowd dispensed. The professor smiled and then smoothed out her orange robes. She wished the two would have come when she wasn't so dirty from playing with her students, but little could be done otherwise. One couldn't order a convenient surprise.

"Let's go to my house," the professor suggested. "Genis is working on supper. I hope you haven't eaten yet. He always makes too much."

Colette clapped her hands together. "That sounds fantastic! I don't know about you, Presea, but I'm starving."

The pink-haired girl agreed, but her thoughts weren't dedicated to her personal needs. She felt herself side-tracked by the dilemma at hand. In fact, she had been thinking about it ever since Colette dropped the news on her. It was hard to want to stay on topic when something much graver loomed somewhere out there. It was lucky that she was so close to her friends, or she would have walked past the Sage's home and straight out of Iselia. The only thing that snapped her out of her thoughts was when someone said her name.

"Pardon me?" Presea apologized. "I'm sorry."

Raine laughed. "I was asking how your summer is going. Colette said you were on a vacation in Flanoir. That's very unusual."

Presea blushed. "Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I guess I was just tired of the heat."

"You're beginning to sound more like Colette." The professor crossed her arms. "Are you well?"

Outside of being the target of some homicidal monster? Sure, why not? "I will discuss our problem in a little bit. Perhaps during supper.

Despite the cramped appearance of the Sage's residence, it was rather cozy on the inside. The smell of tomato sauce filled the small home. Genis was working away on making spaghetti, his apron stained with sauce. The scent made Presea homesick. Her stomach panged as well. Maybe she was hungrier than she thought. Worrying had a way of burning calories.

"P-p-presea! Colette!" Genis stammered. "It's good to see you both again!" He gave both of the girls a bear hug. The half-elf then jumped away in surprise. "Oh, no! I didn't get sauce on you two, did I?"

Colette beamed. "Nothing that won't come out. Do you have a washcloth?"

The group got most of their light conversation out of the way first. Genis told about his applications to both Palmacosta and Sybak's universities. Both locations were fighting for his attendance. Raine told stories of her students and how they were picking up the strangest details about their journey from their parents. One rumor went as far as to say that Raine was actually a reincarnation of one ruler from Cleo III's lineage. Colette talked about her journey to destroy exspheres with Lloyd, which boiled down to antics with local merchants trying to pawn the stones off as jewelry. Presea remained quiet during the entire discussion, helping set plates and cook noodles. The chatter was pleasant enough for her.

Their conversation became much heavier as they sat down to eat. "So, tell us. Why did you come to Iselia?" Raine was on edge, trying to figure out what would bring her friends back.

Colette fidgeted for a moment, rolling noodles around with her fork. "Well, where should we start? The part where Presea came in, or where Lloyd and I were drug in, or—"

"Just start at the very beginning." Genis cut her yammering short.

"Right. It's a very good place to start." Colette agreed. She took a quick swallow, and then continued. "Well, let's see. Princess Hilda turned seventeen, so the king threw a party. And Zelos was invited, of course."

Genis frowned. "This isn't going to end up with him getting arrested for being intoxicated in public, is it?"

"No, I don't think he was poisoned." As usual, Colette missed the mark. "But the party got attacked by this big monster! A bunch of people got killed, and Zelos was almost eaten too! And the king made him wear this thing on his arm that goes 'zap!' when he's outside of Meltokio at night!"

The professor rolled her eyes. "So, what? Are you supposed to be his court-appointed counsel or something?"

Colette shook her head. "Nope. But, for some reason, the king has Sheena watching over him, kind of like a warden or something. So, they've been investigating this monster, and it turns out that it's sentinel!"

"You mean sentient." Genis snorted, almost unable to contain his laughter. "Anyway, what kind of monster is this thing, anyway?"

Presea chimed in, "Neither of us has seen the monster, but the others have described it as being gelatinous. Colette said that it is made up of human remains and exspheres." She hesitated on the next part. "It has fluctuating intelligence and is capable of communication. It also has some sort of vendetta with me."

That was enough to switch Genis's mood around. He jumped out of his seat. "N-n-no way! I'm not g-g-going to let any monster h-h-hurt you, Pu-pu-pres—"

"Calm down, Genis," Raine rebuked her brother. She turned her attention back to their guests. "I would assume that this is a problem than neither Sheena nor Zelos could solve, considering that you have come so far to visit us."

Colette nodded. She folded her hands and looked down towards the floor. "If it just stayed in Meltokio. . ." She shuddered at her memories. "I saw what it can do. I'm not sure we're even enough to take care of it."

Genis dropped his attitude again, calming down but at the same time anxious about Colette's mood. "If we can't do it, who will? I mean, we restored the world back to its original form. How hard is it to stop a monster if all eight of us—"

"I know. I know!" Colette interrupted. "Well, that's . . .I mean, I think . . .if nothing happened since I left Meltokio. . ."

"Don't dance around the subject." Raine cut to the chase. "What did you last know?"

Presea filled in the blanks. "Colette told me that both Zelos and Lloyd were going to patrol Meltokio and look for further evidence of the monster's presence. Sheena was going to keep an eye on Zelos's mansion for the time being. Apparently, his sister showed up in all of this mayhem, and Regal was incapacitated by the monster during an attack on Altamira, so she is watching them both. Colette went on to find me, and then we came here to seek you two."

Genis rolled his head back, rocking his chair as far back as possible. "So, it's us against some homicidal freak of nature, huh? And it's likely that if you don't get our help, Meltokio and possibly several other towns are toast?"

"Most likely, we will be consumed as well." Presea added. "From what Colette has told me, it sounds like a painful process."

Raine nodded, placing two fingers on the side of her face. "It sounds like you need medical help as well, with such a hazardous creature pursuing both of you."

"To sum all of this up, the world is doomed without us?" Genis smiled. "Looks like we've got to help them, sis."

Like either of them were going to react any differently.

* * *

"Is there truly nothing we can say to convince you otherwise?"

Seles gave Regal a sharp glare. He was starting to be a pain in the ass. She stuffed the urge to slap him down into her gut and smiled. Tapping him on his sternum with her index finger, she decided to correct him. "Look, you dolt. Tokunaga and Sebastian are going to stay with me. We've got food and supplies. Both my brother's butler and my own are trained in fencing and martial arts. I will be fine. Do you understand me?"

Sheena scratched the back of her head. "And how are you going to protect yourself?"

Both the ninja and the president jumped back in surprise when the young girl produced a heavy crossbow. "I bought one of these from a trader outside of Palmacosta. No strength needed to fire. Just load a bolt and go!"

The ninja's eyes widened. "What do you load this thing with? Harpoons?"

"It seems a bit unwieldy," Regal gulped. He pushed the weapon aside so it was no longer aiming at them. "I suppose I cannot argue with it, however. As long as you know how to use it."

Seles shrugged. "I'll get used to it after the first couple of muggers come along." That statement made both Sheena and Regal sigh. They should have forced Seles to evacuate with the others.

"So then." Sheena forced a topic switch as fast as possible. "How long are you going to stay here?"

Seles rolled her eyes. "Just a couple more days, okay? Just until our supplies get low. _Somebody_ needs to wait around here in case that idiot brother of mine shows up again. Maybe his stupid friends as well." She put her free hand on her hip. "How long are you guys going to be gone, anyway?"

"Just for the evening," Regal responded. He looked away for a moment, unable to look Seles in the eyes. "At least, that is our intention."

The implications of that statement didn't go unnoticed. Everyone glanced the other way. Zelos and Lloyd hadn't come back yet. It was likely that Sheena and Regal wouldn't return, either. It was just like Zelos's friends to be more suicidal than he was. Seles shook her head, wishing she could find something to say to deter them. Frankly, it was just as stupid to keep them here as it was to let them go. Trouble was going to find them, either way. It was their dumb luck.

"If I see your other stupid friends, I'll tell them where you've gone." Seles volunteered. She cocked her head to the side, "Just double-checking, where are you going?"

Sheena pointed downwards. "I saw the monster escape below, before. It's probably down there again."

Seles gritted her teeth. "Well, that's great. Have fun with the rats, then."

"I am hoping that is some kind of blessing," Regal smiled. He reached a hand out. "Then, I hope we meet each other in better circumstances."

The girl grumbled, but she shook his hand. They were such a bunch of brave idiots. A part of her wished for just a moment that she could go along with them. Her lungs wouldn't let her, though. She knew it. She was starting to regret giving up that exsphere. The sides of her eyes hurt—she thought she was going to start crying. She pushed that feeling aside as well. What the hell was wrong with her?

Regal gave Seles a perplexed look. Her grip was tight. Was she okay? "Are you—"

"No. But, get out of here, you idiots." Seles smirked. "Go save my stupid brother already."

With that, she slammed the door shut. A roll of thunder echoed the cut-off of their conversation. Sheena sighed, hoping the rain wouldn't be too heavy. It was starting to come down in small splashes, but it was picking up in intensity. That was great. Maybe they could both get into the sewers and drown. Did the sewers connect with the storm drains? She didn't know. Maybe they did.

The ninja tugged on the bluenette's sleeve. He nodded, following her lead. They passed through the dark squares of town, shops and stalls closed up tight. The rain bore down on the city, every droplet echoing from hitting the paved paths. Lights flickered in the poorest part of town, shimmering and dying one by one. Not everyone could leave, and no one would come out. The sight was disturbing.

Sheena led Regal towards a manhole behind the item shop. It had been just a short time ago that they had used this passage to sneak in and out of Meltokio. Now, it felt like the gateway to a dragon's lair. Where the hole used to be was a punched-out gap in the paved road. Sheena leaned over the side, noticing where the ladder now swung freely. Bingo. Regal gritted his teeth, not sure if something like that could hold his weight.

"Ladies first," Regal grimaced.

Sheena snorted. "Chivalrous as ever." She leapt into the hole, landing on the platform below with little trouble. The smell was the first thing to strike here. It was that same stench of rotten flesh and decay, but it was worse than before. She was lucky she had a strong stomach, or she would have gagged. She pinched her nose shut for the moment, hoping she'd get used to it after a while.

Regal landed next to her, catching himself on his hands. She chuckled, "Come on, you've got to admit it. It's a lot easier to do this adventuring thing without the shackles."

"Tremendously." Regal agreed. "Although, it's not that bad, once you get used to it."

"Don't think I'll have to ever worry about that," Sheena shook her head. She glanced around, taking in the stark picture. There was red liquid on the walls, but it was beginning to fade away. The air down here felt thick, like it was bearing down on them. It was too enclosed for the ninja. She liked working in open forests or in cities, where she could always climb up to escape her problems. There was little going upwards here. Just down, down, down . . .

She jumped across some of the sewage, landing on ruins of what used to be an old crossway. Regal was quick to follow. The pathway led up towards a maintenance area, where old compactors hissed in the darkness. One along their way wasn't functioning, a pile of tools left abandoned by its side. Ooze stained its surface—whoever was working here was devoured several days ago. Both shivered, despite the heat.

Regal leaned over the lined edges where the malfunctioning compactor sat. "Sheena, I would recommend you take a look at this."

The ninja checked out what he had found. There was a cesspool below, grates clogged by disposed matter and some kind of furry material. It might have been plant or animal, but it was hard to tell at this point. Some of the disgusting liquid was draining downwards in a slow spiral, but it was difficult to tell where it was going. There was a single object shining within the mess, silver light glinting from the surface of the pool. What was that?

"Hope you don't mind getting a little dirty," Sheena said. She catapulted off the side of the railing, landing one floor down. Regal landed next to her, not as graceful but managing not to hurt himself. She looked downwards again, trying to figure out what it was. The top of the object was golden, but wrapped in blue fabric. She stepped out into the pool, surprised to find how shallow it was. Her friend followed, although he was more shocked by the coldness of the water than the depth. Drainage seeped past them, swirling rat carcasses and trash into the abyss below. It was disgusting, but it was the only way to get that object out.

With a quick tug, Sheena freed the thin object from the boards it was locked within. The lumber swirled past her, dipping below the surface of the water. She flipped it over, noticing the white-silver metal that gleamed. It was a sword. A faint seal lay below the hilt of the blade, somewhat worn but still visible. It looked like the seal of the Church of Martel. Confusion rambled in her brain. This certainly looked like Zelos's sword. What would it be doing lodged in garbage? Why wouldn't he have it?

Regal frowned. "Sheena? What is that?"

"It's Zelos's sword," Sheena answered. She slipped it into the side of her obi. "But why—"

"No. What's that sound?" Regal cut her short.

A low groaning noise echoed from beneath them. It resonated like a ship's hull being crushed hundreds of feet below the ocean. Sheena could feel a stronger pull coming from below them. It was like someone had removed a clog from a bath drain, and suddenly water could escape again. She panicked. It was exactly like that.

She splashed towards the walkway. "Get out of the sewage!"

A great metallic screech wrung from below them. It was like someone with superhuman powers was bending girders. Clay bricks gave way from beneath them, shattering several feet into the opening cataclysm. Pipes broke loose, showering sewage into that same abyss. The hole widened, giving away faster and faster. A giant hole. Just her luck!

Then there was no more water or ground.

Sheena screamed, falling into open air. It was several seconds before she stopped. The ribbon around her waist unfurled, twisting her around in the darkness. She snatched onto it before it completely unraveled, Zelos's sword falling into the pit. Glancing upward, she saw Regal clutching onto her sash with his left hand and clinging to a loose drainage pipe with his right. She swung limply below, counting her lucky stars.

"Are you alright?" Regal called down. He flinched as the pipe slipped. It wasn't going to hold for much longer.

Sheena panted. "Tell me this can't get any worse!"

The pipe snapped.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I could give you another excuse about finals and familial problems, but you should be used to that kind of delay by now. I mean, really. Let's just face it—I write in short splurges at a time. It's embarrassing. I need to be more controlled about what I write.

Another chapter with no mention of Zelos or Lloyd? That's going to come back and bite me, I just know it. Especially since I devoted the opener to the king. I mean, what was up with that? Empathy for a jerk-ass? I swear, I'll have something in the next chapter about them. It just wasn't the right time.

Suppose I don't know what all to say about this right now. Just keep talking to me. I'm a narcissist, and I love those sweet, sweet reviews! Mwa ha ha!


	13. The Realm of Our Ancestors

**Chapter 13: The Realm of Our Ancestors**

He came to with an awkward snort. At first, he was disoriented, but that feeling dissipated swiftly enough. The chosen recognized this place as his front room, although it was a lot darker and cozier than he remembered it. He was sleeping in an armchair next to the fireplace, an expensive violin sitting next to the burgundy furniture. Rain slopped down outside, falling in bucketfuls. There was neighing and the clopping of horse-driven carriages in the streets. The rattling of teacups brought his attention back inside to a sobbing woman in a tight red dress, her bosom heaving with every cry.

Wait. That was Sheena.

"Then, pray tell, what occurred after that?" her sofa companion asked. It was Lloyd, although he was dressed much better than usual. He had a sharp black tuxedo, as well as a top hat and a rose pinned to his chest. What, the dwarven clothes weren't cutting it anymore? Did he just fall into a pit of money? No, he wouldn't be that lucky. Maybe Colette, but not him.

"It is as I told you, kind gentleman." Sheena wiped the tears from her eyes with an embroidered handkerchief. "I came to after the chloroform left my system, and my jewels were no longer present. It is a dire tragedy! If my noble clan cannot recover the gemstones, then—"

Zelos shook his head. Why was every talking so weird? "Pardon me, but I fell asleep. Could you back this up just a bit?"

The ninja glared at him. "How incredible! The ace detective has no need of my story. He can deduce clues from his dreams!"

Lloyd did something Zelos had never seen before. He took a sip of tea, his pinky curled in perfect form. "I dare say, Detective Wilder, but you are most rude."

Holy crap. The universe imploded. That could be the only explanation. He flopped back in his chair, placing a hand over his face. His fingertips brushed over a cap on his head. The only time he ever wore a hat was when he was in disguise. Never-the-less, it was convenient. He slid it over his eyes, hoping it would hide the embarrassment in his face as well.

Oh, well. Go with the flow. Zelos tried to echo their weird vernacular. "I mean no offense by this statement, but why have you not gone to the police, if it is just a burglary? It appears that your life was not in any danger."

"I had previously discussed this very subject with Constable Bryant," the immaculately-versed Sheena continued. "After some investigation, he too went missing. I am afraid it is the work of your dastardly nemesis, Professor Maniscotti."

Who the hell was that? Zelos buried his face in his hands, trying to hide his beet-red cheeks. He closed his eyes and forced himself back into character. "Do pardon, but why have you not this crime to the attention of the lovely Professor Sage and her young, genius associate?"

"Of whom do you speak?" Sheena was confused.

"Surely you know Raine and Genis," Zelos shot the busty woman a dark look. His eyes widened. In the time between closing and opening his eyes, the walls of his house had started to undulate. They oozed scarlet tissue, the occasional stone glimmering in the surfaces. Sheena and Lloyd continued drinking, unaware of the gelatinous substance all around them. Zelos rubbed his eyes, but the image remained. What was going on?

Lloyd tipped a teacup towards Zelos. "Oh, come now. Have a spot of tea. It will clear your befuddled mind." As he sipped again, Zelos watched his skin and muscles disappear in a cloud of dust. The walls surged out and coated his skeleton, holding his form as he continued drinking. Zelos jumped out of his chair, stepping into the fireplace. The smoldering flames turned to ash, but the painful heat remained. His chest burned, his heart beating like it was going to explode. What was going on?

"Detective Wilder, please do not panic!" Sheena pleaded with him as her skin blew away as well. Her eyes were locked on him, jaws continuing to talk as the slime consumed her. "It is important that you assist me in any way you can!"

Zelos bolted towards the window. He found himself stuck to the fireplace like it was covered in flypaper and honey. His lungs seized up, still breathing but at the same time feeling like he was drowning. He was starting to remember the brutal battle before this, his skin prickling at the thought of what was happening. He had lost Lloyd. Hell, he had lost himself. This was some kind of elaborate nightmare made to keep him from escaping. He panted, the strange feeling of being smothered still thick in his throat. Where was his sword? Where was Lloyd? What the hell was he going to do?

Well, the answer was elementary. No one else was going to save him. Might as well take care of himself. Air Thrust seemed to be a good spell to start with.

* * *

The world was spinning slowly. It was dark and humid, reeking of mold and decay. He couldn't see far into the vastness around him, but what he could see repeated in a diamond pattern. His eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he saw it clearly. Fishnet. Tangled in the net were clumps of indeterminable matter, most likely rotting plants and fungus. He tried righting himself, but was bound tight inside the mess. Sheena's obi was snarled around his right leg, old rope keeping his torso and arms pinned to the net. He pulled against his bonds, only to have the entire mess capsize and flip him upside down.

Regal clenched his teeth together, trying not to get sick. This was embarrassing. Pushing his ego aside, he tried looking for his friend. There was a pile of debris beneath him, most of it slop and sewage. Lying on her back was the stunned ninja, in a state of surprise and mild concussion. She had the same expression as a fish who had been out of the water for three hours.

"Sheena? Are you alright?" Regal called down.

The ninja sucked in some air, and then she nodded. "Wow. Never get tired of falling down bottomless pits."

"I'll be down momentarily." Regal squirmed in the netting, his force swinging the entire clot like a pendulum. His left heel ripped a hole in the old rope. Pushing his weight upwards, he forced himself through the hole. With an awkward flop, he found himself outside of the net, but still tangled by Sheena's ribbon. Pulling one last time, he ripped himself free. Unfortunately, this ended up with him landing several feet below the mess on his back. It felt like he'd landed in half-thawed flan.

"You know, I could have helped you if you just waited a minute." Sheena was able to prop herself up on her elbows.

Regal rolled his head back. "I am beginning to wonder why I bothered with basic hygiene today."

The ninja snorted, but didn't taunt Regal any further. She was lucky he was up and moving—frankly, she didn't want to be down here alone. Rubbing her left elbow, she made a quick search of the immediate area. She found Zelos's discarded sword a few feet away from her, the hilt sticking out of the muck. She pulled it loose, not sure what she would do with it, but wanting to keep it. It was lucky that neither of them landed on it.

Sheena was surprised to feel something wrap around her stomach. Regal finished tying the bow on her back, restoring her sash. One end of it was tattered from where he had ripped it from the netting, but it was otherwise alright. She wished that she had a proper belt for Zelos's sword, but it wasn't like she had the scabbard for it, either. Oh, well.

"Thank you." She couldn't help but blush a little bit.

Regal gave her a rare smile. "Remind me to purchase an appropriate replacement for you."

She scratched the back of her head. "Fine. We'll deal with that later." Despite being so far from the floor they fell from, it was well lit down here. The lighting from above trickled through just enough to reveal old lanterns along the edges of the walls. While it smelt awful down here, it didn't reek of natural gases. The ninja shrugged, deciding that more light was going to be needed to explore their surroundings. Turning her attention to one of the lanterns, she held one of her cards out to it. With a soft murmur and a charge of mana, the card burst into flames, reviving the nearby lantern.

Upon getting a better look at the old room, Sheena wished she would have left the lights off. "You've got to be kidding me."

While the room was not very tall, it stretched out for several feet in a hexagon shape. Rectangular holes were notched out of the brick walls, small plaques underneath them grown over with black fungus. Bits of cloth and priceless jewelry shimmered in the darkness, both still of high value in their state of decay. Even the rare sword or two lay in the holes, lying where a person was once laid to rest eons ago. It was one of several forgotten catacombs that lay beneath the Meltokio sewers, having not been touched for centuries.

Regal frowned. "I believe Raine would consider this discovery fortuitous, had she been present."

"Screw that!" Sheena began pacing nervously. "How many dead people are down here? Hell, what about zombies? Ghouls? Ghosts?"

Her friend chuckled. "Perhaps we should think of more practical threats. I would imagine spiders, rats, and snakes to be more of a problem than the undead." He smiled, cupping his chin with his hand. "I thought the tribe of Mizuho was trained against such undead creatures."

Sheena glared at him. "You know, since you're a rich guy and all, these are probably your relatives down here. Which would make this the worst family reunion I've ever been to."

"I do believe I have some family buried down in these catacombs," Regal agreed. "They would have to be over five hundred years my elder at the very least." His cheery demeanor quickly disappeared, his mind focused on a disturbing detail. "I thought there would be more left of them than dust, however."

The ninja took a moment to observe the layers of burial grounds. She hopped around the sludge pile in the center of the room, looking at as many coffins as she could see. There were no signs of tissue or skin, never the less bone. Regal was right. There were no corpses left down here. Why would all of the bodies be gone and not the valuable items?

Sheena shook her head. "Bodies don't rot that fast, do they? I wouldn't think the bones would all be gone, anyway."

Regal kept his expression fixed, but he began to pale. "I am not the best with matters of anthropology, but I would imagine something would have to remain. This certainly does not look like the work of any commonplace thief."

That left very few options in Sheena's mind. It was possible that the vermin of the sewers had made their way down into these decrepit corridors and had consumed the entire lot of bodies. If it had been five hundred years since anyone had checked on this place, maybe it was a possibility. Still, a nagging thought sat in the back of her brain like a cackling crow. She was looking for a monster that consumed human bodies. It used them to build its own body. It didn't care what it engulfed. If nobody was down here to stop it from feasting…

"We should get moving," Sheena's voice cracked a little in fear. Taking one last look around, she looked for any useful supplies. She took an abandoned scabbard from one of the resting places, separating it from its metallic companion. It was sad in a way, but Sheena wanted to bring Zelos's sword back, and that meant finding something to carry it in. It wasn't like anyone was going to complain about it. The dead were gone, and Regal was silent.

The duke took lead, removing the iron-cast lantern from its base. Light from it shimmered through the grim passageway, bringing a new hall and centuries of spider webbing into view. He pushed the webbing aside, the strands falling away like light silk. Sheena was quick to catch up with him, but she remained in his shadow, her eyes darting behind them. Rivers of sewage thundered far into the distance while hot embers crackled in front of her. Other than this, there were no sounds of life.

Another rectangular room burst into light as they entered, the first human visitors in almost five centuries now gazing upon what used to be hallowed, left in magnificent repose. A gigantic old tapestry hung on the eastern wall, images of unicorns and a maiden in white clothing rotting through centuries of neglect. Emblems of the Church of Martel were engraved into granite slabs that lay next to stone coffins lined in the middle of the room. Regal investigated one of them, finding no corpse within. A set of swords was left, the only remainders of what or whom its master used to be. The blades were unusual, one being only half the length of the other. Both were created in an unusual manner, the length of the metal curling upwards in sharp contrast to the typically straight swords used by Meltokio swordsmen.

"This seems out of place." Regal set the lantern inside the coffin, picking up the larger of the two blades.

Sheena took the smaller one and nodded. "Looks like a daishō. I didn't think Mizuho and Meltokio were on good enough terms back then. Why would they bury one of ours down here?"

Regal shook his head, placing the sword back into the coffin. "Perhaps this person was a respected ally to Meltokio. Alternatively, perhaps the kingdom was trying to contain a traitor. There are many stories from Meltokio about burying rivals and enemies in these underground places, although I had always supposed it was just a myth."

"Oh, yeah. I think Zelos has a book by some author about that," Sheena recalled. "A cask of…something or another." She placed her sword back as well, then continued digging around the coffin. There were some additional items buried towards the bottom, wrapped in a rotting sack. She took it out, easily picking through the twine knot at the top. She spilled the contents into the grave, picking through its remains.

She explained the items to Regal as she sorted them. "An old manji seal. A guardian marker. Their family's mon…a butterfly? Whoever was here was from Mizuho. No doubt about it. Although, what this is, I have no clue."

The ninja produced a scrunched up piece of paper. She unwrapped it, but could barely see the markings on it. Most of it was documented in an older version of Mizuho's secret code, but it was difficult to make out. There were a few characters at the top that she recognized as "dead", "rich", and "snake". Several lines and rectangles lined the paper like a spider web, some stopping sort of reaching anything. Some were marked off with an X. A piece flaked off from the corner, another chunk burned out in the lower right-hand corner. It looked like a map of the catacombs.

"Probably a thief. A pretty bad one, at that," Sheena muttered. "They carried too much evidence. Still, we might be able to use this. I think it's a map of this place."

Regal placed a hand on the side of his temple. "How uncharacteristically lucky of us."

Sheena nudged him in the side. "Ah, come on. Why do you have to look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"Forgive me. I have not been having a great week," Regal murmured.

The ninja blew off his comment. "That's putting it lightly. Let's keep going."

_Squeak!_

It was a strange sound. The small noise rang the slightest bit, piercing the otherwise silent atmosphere. Both humans turned around to get a look at what made the noise. There were a set of beady eyes coming around the corner. It was a rat about the size of a dog. While its size was disturbing, it seems nonthreatening. It flicked it whiskers, then squeaked again. Another squeak. Squeak squeak squeak.

The rat took a step around the corner. That was the second indication that something was wrong. A skeletal foot landed outside, white bone glimmering in the dim shadow of the catacomb. Sheena's eye twitched. She massaged her forehead, but the image didn't fade away. That was either a rat with a very strange injury, or—

There was another series of loud squeaks, but it didn't come from that rat.

"I believe I invoked this on us," Regal grimaced.

"Well, at least someone's taking responsibility," Sheena muttered. She drew her cards, prepared to send the monster packing. "How bad could this be, anyway?"

The rat rolled forward, body pushed down into the sewage by a mass of furry legs. It was an entire swarm, some parts dead but others very much alive. The mass was covered in filth and slime, tails intertwined and locked in a permanent tangle. An unholy clamor of squeaking erupted, echoing off the walls with a shrill cry. In the exact center of the rat's entanglement was a solitary gemstone, veins from all the beasts reaching up into it. There was a unanimous shriek of excitement, and the rat pack moved together in one rolling formation.

Sheena sighed. "I'm not going to be able to sleep ever again."

* * *

Lloyd Irving never expected to see his father's sword at his throat again.

This blessed, noble war had not gone well. Despite his platoon's greatest efforts to pierce the oncoming waves of mutants and angels, they had all worn down. Those lower in rank had panicked first, quickly taking their lives before the enemies had the enjoyment of doing the same. Others had fought until the bitter end. Many ran. The flags of Mizuho flew tattered and torn, but none had fallen. That he could be proud of.

"Stop this attack." Kratos's eyes had never seemed so cold and empty. "Take those whom you cherish and run. Go before I take them from you."

His friends. Had they been killed? He'd heard their screams and cries of joy, all reduced to maniacal, self-destructive tactics. There had been reports that some had been captured, but none had been killed. No, that was for him to bargain for. His friends were now the toys of Mithos and his half-elves. Who was he kidding? There would be no turning back from this point.

Lloyd clenched the sword in his left hand, and then batted Kratos's blade away with a sharp parry. He flipped backwards, landing on woven red sandals with catlike grace. The swordsman pushed forward, katanas clashing against the thousand-folded sword that his father held. Sparks flew between the duo, but neither let up.

Kratos hissed lowly. "I will not make you take the honorable path by requesting your death. Do not think that I will not cut you down if you fight against me."

"What is it that you want?" Lloyd growled back, shoving Kratos back a step.

His father snarled, his katana screeching under Lloyd's attack. "Surrender the holy maiden and the summoner. Do not let them complete the ritual of awakening."

The winds blasted by them, thunder crackling in the distance. Rain pelted the streets, but did nothing to quell the fire that was consuming the houses of Mizuho. Pink petals from the trees flew into the courtyard where the two swordsman stood, red blood tainting their natural color. The spirits of war were pleased, but those of nature were weeping. What twisted fate was this to have father and son fighting to the death!

"It is only by awakening the spirit of Mizuho's guardians that we have any chance at stopping this sick war!" Lloyd spat, slashing away at his dad once more. "We agreed to protect this place until the pact ritual is completed!"

Kratos belted at his son, "You fool! Your traitorous friend bleeds in captivity for all eternity. Another with convictions greater than yours gasps in agony from one hundred sacred arrows! Your best companion is alive only for the bemusement of O-Yggdrassill-sama. Do not think I will have such equal mercy as my master!"

Three swords joined in unison. Lightning struck outside of town, its rolling thunder blasting through the ninja village. Their dual raged on, the father catching his son's arm while the younger cut him across the chest. The blows came sharp and fast, each reflected with an equally strong strike. Winds rushed across the town, rice fields in the distance hissing with the din of the storm. The spirits of war and death were becoming hungry, nature calling out a final warning.

"I will not give in to some coward who can't even stand up for his own ideals!" Lloyd spat. "He who lives without honor and faith shall perish without it!"

A black-gloved hand reached out of nothing and grabbed his shirt.

"Gah!" Lloyd gasped. Burning Mizuho disappeared with a poof of consciousness, taking the dramatic weather and intense war with it. The scenery was replaced with thick copper piping and currents of sewage. There was a thick coat of ooze all over his body. Zelos was trying to wipe his face off as fast as possible. All the adrenaline from his dream remained. He felt like a kitten dragged from the ocean.

Lloyd didn't know where to be begin. "Geez, Zelos! What was that about?"

The chosen was short on words. "I'd love to explain, but I've got a little—ack!"

An enraged girl dove at them, fingers extended like claws. Zelos side-stepped the blue blur, yanking Lloyd along with him. She landed with a heavy splash in the sewage, crying out in disgust and rage. Her hair was frayed, her once beautiful dress stained and beginning to tatter. Slime wound around her arms, pulsing like clogged arteries. If he hadn't just seen her a short time ago, there was no way Lloyd would have ever been able to identify Princess Hilda.

"I'd really like an explanation, if you've got one!" Lloyd begged.

"Okay! Listen fast!" Zelos pulled Lloyd by his wrist. "I woke up. We were in the monster. I cast Air Thrust. I saved your ass. Does that cover it for you?"

The brunette finally started understanding what was going on. The duo was still in the sewers. It seemed like a new spot, some place he'd never been before. Old stone walls and corroding pipes made it look like no one had been down here in quite some time. Red, swollen flesh oozed on the walls, contracting and expanding with a regular beat. Half-rotten animal carcasses were wrapped inside this, some looking without eyes at the escaping pair. It reminded Lloyd of the horrible mess they had found in Altamira. It was almost a carbon copy, come to think of it.

Lloyd corrected himself. "You know what? I think I know what's going on."

"Super." Zelos agreed. "Now cheese it, unless you want to be the princess's date for the next ball!"

Hilda shrieked at them, "Come back, you fiends! My master demands your deaths!"

Like Lloyd needed any further motivation. Both ran like hell as tentacles and a determined, demonic princess chased after them into the dark abyss below Meltokio.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

I actually have an excuse this time! I had to rewrite half this chapter. The first part is pretty much untouched, but the second and third sections needed some serious work. The problem I had was that I was trying to have action, but it wasn't adding much to the plot other than "Oh, whoops! Minor setback!" After a little brainstorming with my roommate, this is what came out. Wha-la!

I'm not sure I need to talk about much with this chapter. A mon is a Japanese family crest. I was trying to make a Cask of Amontillado joke. A rat king is…well, I'm certain I've talked about rat kings before. Suppose I could have thrown something in about our other heroes, but review responses seemed to want more Zelos and Lloyd. So, I gave that priority over whatever the hell Seles is doing. And Colette & company too, I suppose.

This chapter was fun for me to write (after the initial redo) because of the crazy-ass dream sequences. I kind, sort of dabbled in it earlier with Regal, but I didn't get insane. It was an excuse for me to try a little alternate universe without going full throttle. Not sure why Zelos became Sherlock Holmes and Lloyd became some kind of crazy samurai, but that's the fun of it. I think both would be appealing storylines, don't you? If you're going to go AU, go nuts! (Beats the hell out of another self-insert).

Anyway. Let me know what you're thinking, hunnies.


End file.
